


Loss and Gain

by mimirexx



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Arranged Marriage, Beating, Ereriminibang2k19, Falling In Love, Father-Son Relationship, Fighting, Fluff and Angst, Hate to Love, Heavy Angst, M/M, Molestation, Mother-Son Relationship, Murder, Secrets, Self-Defense, Sexism, Sexual Harassment, forced genderswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-06-02 08:30:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 42,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19437733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mimirexx/pseuds/mimirexx
Summary: Eventually, the prince helped Levia back onto her feet and pulled his arms back so he could bow. “It was an honor to dance with you, m’lady.” As he said that, he glanced over at the girl and she saw his lips smirking once again.‘Bastard’, she wanted to say but bit her tongue, dropped a curtsy and immediately turned away to walk back to where her seat was. She was so furious that she had to marry him out of all people. Why couldn’t it be someone less bothersome? Someone less bratty- someone less Eren! Ugh.





	Loss and Gain

**Author's Note:**

> Here’s my submission for the Ereri minibang event! It was a lot of fun to work on this collaboration!
> 
> Everyone go and check out the talented [ morebeesthanyoucouldimagine ](https://morebeesthanyoucouldimagine.tumblr.com/) and give them love! Their gorgeous art for this fic can be found [ here ](https://morebeesthanyoucouldimagine.tumblr.com/post/185985706736/i-was-lucky-enough-to-be-partnered-up-with) ! I instantly fell in love with it!! <33

Garlands, flowers, candles. Silk, lace, chiffon, tulle. White and red and gold. A dream coming true for every girl in town. Any of them would die to have such grandiose festivities being thrown only for them. The castle was decorated from the top to the bottom, from the inside and outside. 

Everyone was in a festive mood, was smiling and celebrating and happily enjoying one of the most important days of the kingdom; the princess was finally getting engaged! And naturally, the wedding was sure to follow just a few days later. 

The nation was dancing and singing all day long, throwing flower petals into the air and clapping their hands in the rhythm of the melodies surrounding them. That day seemed to be a perfect day, wouldn’t there be that one person who didn’t at all appreciate all these celebrations: the princess herself. 

“Tch. So annoying.” The young girl uttered to herself in her room when she saw all the people outside the castle walking in and out. Some were bringing the food, others were getting more flowers and garlands for... whatever they needed more for. She found it was a waste of material to use so much for one single day- with the money that was thrown out like that, they could easily feed the poor people of their kingdom. For whatever reason, the engagement was more important. 

Instead of getting dressed and getting ready for the prince’s arrival like she was supposed to, the young princess hid in her room and used a long bamboo stick to exercise with. “Ha!” She huffed out with each strike hitting her closet, feet steadied on the ground. Only because she was a princess, it didn’t mean she shouldn’t be able to defend herself in case it got hard for her some time. It wasn’t ladylike like everyone taught her to be, but she still did it because it was the only thing keeping her sane with being surrounded by all these awkward people in this weird castle. 

To her dismay, there came a voice calling for her earlier than she would’ve liked. “Levia! Levia, sweetheart, are you already dressed?” It was the queen herself who was approaching the girl’s room. At the sound of her voice and footsteps, Levia was quick to hide the bamboo stick under her bed and brushed off her clothes. Her mother wouldn’t be pleased to see her practicing for a fight which most certainly will never happen so it was better if she didn’t find out either. She taught herself everything either from books or by watching people from her window so it wasn’t like she needed help with it either. 

Stepping into her daughter’s room, the queen’s expression fell a bit upon seeing the state of her precious girl; her hair was messy and tied up in a bun while her bangs covered half of her face and, on top of that, the girl was still in her nightgown. “I’ve told you an hour ago to get ready.” The queen scolded gently but she couldn’t stay angry with her daughter for long, “Come. Let me help you.” She walked over to the bed and took a seat there, motioning for her daughter to follow. 

With a small noise of annoyance, Levia decided to go with it and approached her mother, then lifted her arms for the older woman to help her out of her gown. “Do I really have to marry this guy? I don’t even know what he looks like,” She complained, folding her arms over her chest once she was freed from her gown. “Does that brat even know-“

“Language.” Kuchel interrupted quickly which earned her a sigh from the young girl. “It’s either you marry him or your cousin does. As much as I like Mikasa, your father didn’t want this, you know that.“ Levia wasn’t even born when the king promised his daughter to the prince of Shiganshina. It was a decision that couldn’t be changed anymore, a decision that turned Levia’s life upside down completely since day one. If Levia wouldn’t marry this prince, they’d lose every power they had over their land and people. The king was long dead, they couldn’t risk it to fall deep into this trouble. 

Levia had to pay the price for it, she had to go through all the manners training, had to wear dresses and makeup and keep her hair long to become a real princess in appearance, dress and behavior. She would have to marry a boy she never met before and spend the rest of her life with him so they wouldn’t lose their kingdom, so her dear mother wouldn’t have to suffer and worry. 

Her life had to be changed completely because she was actually a he. 

The day Levia was born, her mother realized that she couldn’t keep the promise her husband made to the king of Shiganshina because she didn’t give birth to a girl. To avoid any trouble and possible complications with the kingdom, the queen took care of it herself and turned her lovely boy into an adorable girl. It was for the greater good this way, things would stay in control, stay stable. She didn’t like it, though, there wasn’t much she could do about it anymore. 

Levia’s father died shortly before the child was born and there was no undoing his actions nor changing his words. Levia would marry the prince and become the queen, their countries would fusion together and create a bigger, stronger one. That was her father’s dream, Levia had no right to doubt his decisions. He was her father, after all. 

Kuchel began lacing up her daughter’s corset, paying attention to not do it too tight. “Ugh-“ Holding onto one of the poles of her bed, the girl groaned uncomfortably, “I’m not even fat, why do I have to wear this-?” The ravenette panted softly. Luckily, her mother tied the corset short after, not bothering to answer the question since she deemed it as unnecessary. 

Next came the hooped skirt and a long, white and simple dress over it. It had small, and admittingly beautiful, ornamentation made of lace on the top all over the shoulders, chest and back. It was simple which was the only reason Levia actually liked this little thing about her dress. She lightly traced a finger over the pattern, feeling it, before pulling her hand away again and slipping into the actual dress which was huge. It had a deep, red color and was decorated with very light, golden ornaments all over the skirt which were only visible if one really focused on it or the sunlight shone at the right angle. The chest part as well as the straps over her arms had little flowers all around, accentuating the waist and chest, together with the corset underneath. 

The dress wasn’t ugly, not even Levia could say that. But it was extremely uncomfortable, thanks to all the layers and how tight everything was, and was itching at some places. “You look gorgeous, sweetheart.” At least her mother seemed to like it. Seeing her smile was worth wearing that dress. It was just for one night, she would survive it. 

The queen lead her to the dressing table and let the girl take a seat there where she freed her messy hair from the bun and let it fall over her shoulders. Using the brush to smooth out the long, raven black hair, Levia closed her eyes and just let it all happen. Her mother started humming a small melody she always sang whenever Levia couldn’t sleep or was scared of something, it had a very soothing effect on her and pretty much forced her to just be calm for the time being. Even though she wasn’t scared at the moment, it still was good to hear that melody in the silence they were sitting in. 

Her hair was brushed and tied up perfectly by using clips and pins, each having a glittering, small diamond on it which sparkled through the dark hair, creating a beautiful updo which was finished up with a tender and diamond covered diadem. It all felt annoyingly heavy. Levia could tell her neck was going to hurt by the end of the day. After every strand of hair was taken care of and stayed out of her face, Kuchel began applying the makeup. The girl was already pretty pale, her skin flawless, so there was no need to put on more than necessary. It wasn’t good for her skin. 

Half an hour later, the princess stood up and looked at herself into the big mirror in her room; and she looked astonishing. No wonder how everyone believed Levia really was a girl, there was no reason to doubt it with the way she looked in that moment. “You’re so beautiful.” Her mother cooed, pulling the girl into a brief but affectionate hug which the girl returned without second thought. She looked happy and that was the only reason Levia was still putting up with it. Getting her mother into trouble or disappointing her wasn’t anything she wanted to reach so seeing her joy made up for everything. 

“Thank you, mom.” Levia replied in a soft voice, looking up to face her mother. “Now let’s go, everyone is already waiting for you.” The queen remembered and kissed the girl’s head before making her way over to the door and opening it. As Levia glanced at herself into the mirror again, she brought one hand up and pulled her bangs out to cover her forehead again. She didn’t like to wear her hair all back, she had to keep her bangs out always, no matter where she was going. Having her bangs helped her to feel more comfortable with everything. Kuchel didn’t look very pleased to see this but let it slide, it wasn’t that bad. 

And just like that, Levia found herself in the huge, overflowed ballroom where she was sitting right next to her mother and calmly watched the people. Everyone was staring into her direction with big smiles, some came over and complimented the princess while others murmured to each other how they wished they were in her place instead. Jealousy and envy and desire were predominant, though, Levia honestly couldn’t care less. A princess’ life wasn’t as great as everyone thought, it actually was quite annoying and boring, monotonous, to put it simple. It was always the same routine and she couldn’t stand it so she found herself breaking and changing the rules here and there without anyone noticing. 

It was about an hour later that trumpets could be heard, accompanied by the sound of horses pulling carriages behind them. The carriages stopped right at the big entrance to the castle where the royal family got out. The king and queen of Shiganshina as well as their only son. The other carriages were their relatives and friends who came to take part in the engagement. Queen Kuchel as well as her daughter and other important members of the royal family came to welcome the new and important guests at the door to the ballroom. 

“Welcome. I hope you had a pleasant journey.” Kuchel pretty much said the same thing to everyone who was there: she was honored to have them over, she was happy to create this bond between their countries with their help, she was proud to get such an amazing groom for her daughter and, of course, that she hoped they’d enjoy their stay in her castle. Everything Levia did was dropping a curtsy and greeting with a simple, “I’m honored.” 

The ravenette glanced up when she saw someone younger than the others standing in front of her and guessed this was who she was going to marry. The first thing she noticed were the big, green eyes. They shone and gleamed with bliss and joy which was more than apparent on the youth’s face. The boy wore a bright but not too big smile, his brunet hair tied up in a small ponytail with a few strands of hair falling over his forehead. He was huge, a giant. Even with wearing heels, he still was almost a whole head taller than her. It almost amazed her but at the same time it didn’t; pretty much everyone was taller than her. The clothes the prince wore were noble and classy with a hint of exquisite elegance, the way a prince should be dressed on his engagement. 

The prince bowed and spoke, his voice sounding a bit strong and at the same time calm, “Greetings. It’s my honor to be here today.” The brunet reached for Levia’s hand and pressed a light and tender kiss to the back of it, then let his gaze travel up to her face. After dropping another curtsy, the princess replied with the best voice she could manage without sounding displeased, “The honor is all mine.” 

After that, there was a short silence with them both just staring into each other’s eyes until Levia broke the contact by pulling her hand back. It seemed to make the prince a little nervous but that wasn’t her problem so she didn’t pay much mind to that. Greeting everyone took a couple more painfully long minutes before everyone was finally inside and the girl took a seat next to her mother again, now watching the guests dancing to whichever song was played. She found herself observing people and her surroundings pretty often, she found it interesting. 

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone clearing his throats next to her. When she looked up, she saw that it was the prince who held his hand out to her, his lips curled up into a kind smile. “May I have this dance?” Only then Levia noticed that the song changed into a slower, more romantic one. She glanced up at her mother for a moment before placing her hand into his and standing up from her chair. They approached the dance floor where everyone backed away to make enough room for the new couple to use. 

The ravenette stood in the middle of the hall and stared up at the brunet who now looked scared. What of? She had no clue. “Oi. You do know how to dance, right?” She deadpanned. The prince let out a small chuckle, his hand lightly rubbing the back of his neck, “Well... I’ve definitely heard about it.” He exclaimed but all Levia did was staring at him with a blank stare. A prince who couldn’t dance but asked her to dance with him? Shouldn’t he have learnt it by now? It was annoying but, in a way, the prince almost looked cute with how nervous he was about simple things. 

“Oi,” She sounded more firmly this time, standing right in front of him. It made the brunet look at her with confusion while Levia grabbed his hand and placed it onto her hip, holding the other one up and placing her free hand gently onto his shoulder. “There. Now, listen. Step forward, step right, step back, step left. Repeat. Not more, not less.” She practically ordered. The boy swallowed lightly and nodded as he glanced down at their feet. 

He waited for the right beat before sucking in a breath and taking the first step forward, his eyes glued down in fear to do something wrong. The next step followed carefully, then another one and another one and soon, they were dancing together. Lucky for him, this was only the slow version and the easiest way to dance. Levia was sure he would totally fail as soon as the pace picked up. 

When she noticed that the prince was still staring down at his feet after some while of dancing, Levia gently lifted his face by pushing his chin upwards. “Look at me, not your feet. You’ll be fine.” She muttered shortly, looking into these big eyes as she followed his steps. She could feel him squeezing her hand and, again, saw that smile on his lips. He was a good looking boy. Handsome was a very fitting word for him. He had that special something in his eyes which Levia somehow couldn’t get enough from. It made curiosity well up inside her; something about this boy was different, she just couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was yet. Something made him special, made her eager to find out what this ‘something’ was. 

She was aware of the fact that the prince was a boy and that she technically was a boy too. Needless to say, there would be some not so small complications once it’d come out and Levia would get in trouble if she didn’t keep it under control. She was smart, so she’d find a way around it somehow. They were going to marry anyway, it didn’t matter anymore what gender she was or what she felt. This was her duty, she was the princess, she had to do what was best for her country. 

“Uh.. Can I spin you?” The prince questioned, making the ravenette roll her eyes. “Just do it,” She uttered shortly, inhaling and exhaling softly. Thinking about everything now surely wasn’t a good idea, it irritated her and she almost forgot how she needed to act to appear as the perfectly raised, kind hearted princess she was. The girl managed to grow a little smile on her lips when she was spun around once, less graceful than she would’ve preferred, her hand soon finding its place on his shoulder again. ”Not bad,” She commented, giving his hand a squeeze this time. 

“My name is Eren, I’m 19 years old. I don’t know how much you know about me but I think it’s better if we just start from zero, you know?” Eren already seemed less nervous, it seemed as if he was slowly warming up. Not only he, Levia was starting to like his presence. He was a nice guy- a bit complicated and a brat indeed- but she guessed she could deal with it. She wasn’t the easiest either, poor Eren couldn’t know what he was letting himself into. It wasn’t to the point where she thought she could love him, not at all, rather the point where she began believing that living together wouldn’t be as bad, despite the obvious problems. She had no idea how this boy would react when he finds out so she would try to keep the upper hand until then. 

“Guess so.” The ravenette agreed, “The name’s Levia, 16.” She stated as a fact, keeping her eyes locked with his. The brunet nodded in response as he let the smile linger on his lips. The princess herself didn’t smile very often, it was only when she felt comfortable around someone and had a reason to smile for, other than that, her expression was blank or bored most of the time. Though, she made sure to not appear bored when something important was going on. 

The two danced for some time and spoke about what they liked and what not, though, Levia didn’t talk much about things she didn’t like since it wasn’t ladylike to complain but rather appreciate what she had. Not that she wasn’t grateful for what she had either, there just were things in this kingdom she didn’t like. And would never like. Hopefully she could change some of these once she was the queen. 

Apparently, this Eren was crazy about the world. From this little time they were together, Levia could already tell he was a curious boy with dreams and desires for his future. Plants, animals, and most of all, the sea. He just wouldn’t stop talking about that specific topic. The curiosity and the pure desire and wanderlust in his eyes were more than obvious and certainly enough to make everyone believe it who saw him. He had very strong emotion and, as far as she could tell, wasn’t exactly hiding it. He was happy so he smiled, he was nervous so he became more careful, he spoke about something he liked and his eyes sparkled and gleamed. Sometimes Levia wished she could express her feelings so carelessly like Eren did. To just have the same freedom or a part of it at least. 

“I love traveling,” He said enthusiastically, “Just this month I was in three different cities, each more beautiful than the one before. I’ve met a lot of people there but you know what?” 

God, please don’t say it. 

“I haven’t ever met...” 

Just shut up! Shut up, shut up!

“...anyone as beautiful as you.” 

Ugh. Disgusting. 

That sentence could’ve made Levia cringe with how cheesy it was, she hated it. It was ridiculous and so stupid, even more so when she saw the cocky grin he wore. She wished she could slap him for that but instead, the princess looked down to fake shyness and to hide her eyes from his sight so he couldn’t see her rolling them. “...You flatter me.” It was a compliment, so she had to react accordingly. 

A hand came up, slowly lifting her face until their gaze met again. “Look at me, not the floor.” The prince playfully clicked his tongue and let his hand travel down to hold the girl’s hip again. As the song slowly came to an end, the princess found herself being spun a second time before leaning back into the boy’s arms for the end pose. She looked up, her long lashes blinking a couple of times and her eyes slightly widened. Truth be told, she thought she’d end up falling back to the ground but two strong arms were holding her up while her own instinctively wrapped around the boy’s neck to keep herself up. 

Levia stared at the prince, their faces only inches apart. While she was focused on his eyes, she could see his gaze wandering all over her face: her dark eyes, her pink cheeks, her full, red, soft lips. And that was where his lips stopped a moment too long for her liking. “Oi..” She whispered, not wanting to draw too much attention to them and make it a big deal next to everyone. “Everyone’s staring.” Which most likely wasn’t something she didn’t prepare for, but she still didn’t like having all these eyes on her. They were only waiting for one wrong move, one wrong word or sound to criticize her and show everyone the princess’ flaws. To show that she wasn’t perfect. They longed for this satisfaction, and Levia being her stubborn self, she wouldn’t give them that. Never. 

“Let’s give them something to look at then,” The brunet’s hot breath tickled her cheeks, making her knit her brows together. “What do you mean?” The hell was that supposed to be? This brat was way too cocky for her liking. Before she even knew it herself, she felt lips pressing against the skin of her cheek, staying there for a couple of seconds before being pulled back again. Her eyes widened lightly, staring at the prince in front of her in utter shock- nobody ever kissed her, apart from her mother obviously. This was a feeling completely new to her and, shit, she had no idea how to react to that. Was he even allowed to kiss her? Sure, they were going to be married soon but that didn’t have to mean he could kiss her just yet, did it? What would the people think of them now?

The whole ballroom filled with gasps upon seeing the kiss before falling into utter silence. The silence was tense and nerve wracking, pressing and pushing on Levia as if someone just let a huge stone fall onto her. She didn’t want to be the reason people spoke badly about her mother for not raising her daughter right- not that the kiss was her fault to begin with! This conceited brat was it, he kissed her! He grinned! He still held her over the ground! And Levia feared there might come more. Intimacy was not something for the public eye to see! It had to be kept hidden in rooms behind walls! Where private things were kept! It drove her insane with how mad it made her. 

Suddenly, she heard someone clapping their hands. At first, it was only one person but more were soon to follow their example. “Long live the royal couple!” Someone exclaimed loudly which was sure to be followed by an even louder and happier ‘Cheers!’ coming from the crowd. “Long live the royal couple!” The man repeated and, again, everyone cheered for them. As the ravenette glanced over at her mother to see her reaction to it, she could see a soft smile dancing on the queen’s lips. Just seeing this made her feel much more comfortable about the whole thing- at least the kiss didn’t turn out to be such a bad thing, though, she still didn’t like it. She would make this prince pay for taking advantage of her like that. 

“Let go of me already,” She muttered harshly, trying to not sound too angry about it. Eren didn’t seem to take her seriously, his grin just grew with what could only be amusement. “If the princess would stop clinging to me like a toddler, I would.” His voice was so annoyingly teasing that Levia seriously had a hard time to keep her cool and not lash out. Who did he even think he was?! First he kissed her, now he was annoying? She thought it’d be decent with him, that it wouldn’t be as bad to live with him but she only then realized that it’d be so much worse than she would’ve expected. If he already was so sickly annoying on the first day they met, she had no idea what more was waiting for her. 

Eventually, the prince helped Levia back onto her feet and pulled his arms back so he could bow. “It was an honor to dance with you, m’lady.” As he said that, he glanced over at the girl and she saw his lips smirking once again. ‘Bastard’, she wanted to say but bit her tongue, dropped a curtsy and immediately turned away to walk back to where her seat was. She was so furious that she had to marry him out of all people. Why couldn’t it be someone less bothersome? Someone less bratty- someone less Eren! Ugh. 

The day passed by more or less calm. Everyone was dancing and celebrating apart from Levia who was now mostly just watching the people again. At least everyone else was having fun. Sometimes, she caught the prince looking over at her as if he was tempting to ask for another dance but every single time she shot him a glare as if saying ‘Don’t you even dare!’ 

By the time evening came around, the cake was brought inside to be cut. It was a huge cake and Levia could swear it was even bigger than herself. How they managed to bake such a big cake and why it had to be that big was and always would be a miracle to her. Just like everything else, the cake was decorated. There was a ton of frosting all around it and edible pearls all over. On the top of it, there were two small figures which resembled the prince and princess. It looked cute, no question, and knowing the people who always baked cakes and other sweets for her and her family, it would taste as good as it looked. This was actually the only thing she looked forward to. She wasn’t allowed to eat many sweet things, and didn’t like them that much either, but cake was the only exception. She could eat cake for ages and wouldn’t get tired of it. 

Surprise, surprise. Eren stood by her side to cut the cake together with her. Levia decided to not pay too much attention to him and just grabbed ahold of the knife before looking up at him. The brunet soon placed his own hand on top of hers and didn’t hold back from squeezing her hand. It seemed as if all that brat was doing while looking at her was grinning. She wished she could slap that stupidly sweet grin off his face once and for all. He looked good with smiling this way but Levia didn’t like that the only purpose behind that gesture was to tease her. 

With a clean cut, the knife went through the cake and, again, everyone cheered and clapped their hands. The couple cut off a piece of the cake which Eren placed onto a plate and held a small fork with his other hand. He cut off a small piece and held it out right in front of Levia’s lips. “For my queen.” The princess was tempted to roll her eyes but instead kept her neutral expression and leaned closer to eat what was on the fork. To not be rude, she used the fork to feed the prince a piece as well before placing the fork down. The whole crowd was cheering again although there wasn’t a real reason to do so. Levia was used to it so she didn’t even mind anymore at this point. 

A servant came over and took care of cutting the rest of the giant cake while Levia felt herself being pulled to side gently. She didn’t need to look up to know who it was. “What?” She questioned dryly, not even facing him. “That’s a lot of food. What are you-“

“I’m going to donate what’s left over to the orphans and homeless tomorrow.” The ravenette interrupted him quickly and firmly, as if she just gave him an order. Maybe she couldn’t give him real orders but nobody, not even her own mother, would hold her back from donating all that food which would only end up in the trash anyway. Levia finally moved her eyes over at the tall boy and eyed him up and down for a moment before calmly facing forward again. “You could be a good help since you’re staying here for a few days anyway. Be ready in the morning tomorrow, you will find me in the kitchen. Don’t overdress.” 

She could always use a helping hand since there weren’t many people in the castle who were ready to actually go through the effort to help these who weren’t as lucky as them by offering much needed food and hot drinks. The princess didn’t do this to be seen, she rather just did it to actually help the others because she hated seeing anyone suffer. Eren seemed strong and he was big so it’d be easier for him to lift the boxes than for her. Of course, she would do so herself too but it definitely was faster with some help. 

Before Levia could leave, she felt Eren grabbing her hand and turned her head to face him again, her eyes demanding an explanation. “If you want me to do something for you, you will have to do something for me in return. Just to keep things fair.” The brunet was smiling, not grinning like he did before. As far as she could tell, there wasn’t any teasing behind his smile so she nodded in return and carefully pulled her hand back. “If you help me, I will do anything you want.” She left after making that promise and took a seat at the long table where everyone else was also beginning to take a seat, and soon, to eat. 

The remaining evening was spent more calmly. The music got less at some point, the people slowly got less and soon enough, the princess found herself plopping onto her bed. Her dress was thrown on the ground together with the corset and shoes and every single pin that used to be in her hair a few minutes ago. She also washed off all the makeup which was on her face, tied her hair into a bun. Now, she was just laying in bed and rested her sore body. Walking in heels all day and wearing such a monstrous dress was exhausting and Levia felt so relieved to finally be able to rest and get some sleep now. The girl laid on her pillow, closed her eyes, and soon found some peaceful sleep. 

The king and queen of Shiganshina as well as the prince and their closer family were staying in the guest rooms. It was quite a long way to Shiganshina and it was easier if they stayed these few days rather than commuting back and forth. They were guests and practically already part of the family so it was obvious to let them stay over. 

Morning arrived rather quickly, birds chirping softly in the mild warmth which invaded each and every room of the castle. The big windows were perfect for mornings, they let in enough sunlight to light up the whole room without having to use anything else. Levia awoke to the sound of something or someone knocking at her window and blinked her eyes open slowly. The curtain was covering the sight so the princess rolled out of bed with a yawn and approached the window. She swung open the curtains and blinked when she saw a small, blue and beautiful bird knocking at her window with its beak. 

The ravenette tilted her head lightly before unlocking the window and slowly opening it while she spoke, “You want to get inside or something?” Obviously, the bird couldn’t answer but Levia wasn’t bothered by that fact either. Soon, the window was opened and the little bird flew inside, chirping in a happy tone as it landed on the dressing table and hopped around there. Levia took a seat at the table and watched the bird for a while, reaching out to gently stroke the bird’s head, admiring it’s bright color. 

It didn’t take very long and the bird already flew out of the room again, leaving Levia confused for a moment. She eventually just shrugged it off and got up to stretch her arms over her head as she inhaled and exhaled deeply. This would be a long day again, she already could tell, so she decided to just go for it and got dressed in a matter of minutes. They would have to go to town. To avoid drawing too much attention, Levia got dressed in a simple dark blue dress with a white ribbon tied around her waist on her back. It had long sleeves but free shoulders and came with a matching hat to protect her sensible skin from the bright sun. She brushed her hair and let it fall over her shoulders, not styling it much since she was wearing the hat anyway. Dressed like this, she shouldn’t draw too much unnecessary attention. She was dressed like anyone else and put on only light makeup. As long as she avoided people looking at her face directly, she could go like that unnoticed. 

The princess walked downstairs, greeting some of the servants she met on her way. She told one of them to go and tell her mother that she was going out but didn’t bother to tell why or where. Her mother should know anyway since this wasn’t the first time she did this but she didn’t want her mother to get worried if she didn’t find her in her room. Other than that, she headed directly to the kitchen and spoke to the cook who was preparing breakfast. 

“The food from yesterday? It’s in these boxes over there, Your Highness.” The man pointed over to the other side of the room where four big boxes were placed against the wall. 

The girl just nodded as thanks and walked over to open the boxes and take a look inside and see if it really was everything which was left over. “Where’s the cake? There was still much left.” She questioned, watching as the man walked over to the big fridge and opened the doors of it, “It needed to stay cold or else it’d go bad. Do you want me to pack it for you too?” The princess nodded again and the cook immediately took care of her order. 

She watched as the man put the cake into a box before raising her brows in surprise when her hat was suddenly lifted. She frowned immediately and turned around to face the person who thought they could just do anything they wanted to her and, when she saw who it was, she frowned even more and tried to snatch her hat back. Unfortunately, it was held up, out of her reach. “Don’t look so grumpy. You look way better if you smile.” 

Did that brat have to be annoying in the morning too? Taking a deep breath, Levia spoke calmly yet firmly, “I would appreciate it if you gave me back my hat.” The brunet didn’t seem to even listen to her so Levia repeated it more firmly this time. “Give me back my hat.” It seemed to amuse the prince, judging from his wide grin. 

His hand came up and touched her silky hair, his fingers carefully running through it and tucking it behind her ear to get a better sight of her face, his eyes traveling all around and taking in the sight in front of him. “Gorgeous.” He whispered ever so softly while stroking her cheek with the back of his fingers, “You know what would make you even more beautiful?” Levia rolled her eyes, already knowing what he wanted to say, and finally shoved his hand back. “I don’t care,” She stated dully, “You’re not here for amusement. Help me carry the boxes outside or just leave.” 

The way she spoke probably wasn’t the most respectful one but she didn’t want to have to deal with such things in the morning. She barely just woke up, it was too early for these things. Before she turned around, she could see Eren’s expression dropping, the joy which filled his eyes faded and was replaced by nothing. He wasn’t even smiling anymore and Levia almost felt bad for it— almost. Feeding the poor people was more important now, she still had more than enough time to take care of Eren later. 

While the princess lifted one box, Eren easily lifted two at once and followed her lead outside where they placed the boxes down. She told the rider on the carriage to wait there for them and walked back inside to get the other boxes as well which they also carried outside. It was quite exhausting for Levia as she was used to things being done for her rather than doing it herself. But she wouldn’t now wait for servants to come just to load the boxes when she could manage just fine alone- or now with Eren together. He definitely was confused by her behavior but didn’t question it and lifted the boxes onto the carriage. 

Just when the princess was about to step inside, her hand was grabbed. “Wait.” Eren took her hat and placed it back onto her head, adjusting it just a little. He then just held the door to the carriage open and waited for her to get inside before doing so himself and closing the door behind him. They sat quietly as the horses neighed and soon began pulling the carriage away from the castle. 

Silence filled the small room they sat in with none of them saying a thing. It’d take a bit longer to arrive at the place Levia headed to, and seeing the usually happy Eren like that now was weird. Her gaze fell down to his lap where his hands were resting, so she reached out and gently placed her own on top, giving him a small rub. “Please forgive me for the way I spoke to you. It wasn’t my intention to hurt you.” She murmured, not facing him and instead just staring in front of her. But when she didn’t hear anything coming from him in return, she turned her head to face the prince nonetheless. 

“You didn’t hurt me,” He assured, cupping her small hand with both of his own, “I was a bit.. surprised? I haven’t expected you to react this way. It wasn’t right of me to do that, I’m sorry too.” The brunet brought her hand up and pressed a long kiss on the back of it before lowering it again and keeping ahold of her hand on his lap. Feeling the kiss was a little soothing and now that it was all suited out and Eren had no reason to be sad anymore, Levia relaxed. She couldn’t risk it to do something that’d be a reason to stop this marriage: it was her father’s last will, after all. 

While her hand was held, Levia sat there quietly and looked out of the small window. “In case you were interested, I think you look much more beautiful when you smile. It suits you.” His thumb rubbed small circles on the back of her hand while slowly intertwining their fingers. “Just thought I’d let you know.” He added with a soft hum. 

At first, the princess didn’t give much of a reaction to his compliment before just squeezing his hand and nodding lightly, mumbling a small thanks. She left it this way, though, not saying much more to that. Sure, she appreciated his compliment but that didn’t mean she liked smiling and was going to do it more often. 

It took them less than an hour to arrive at the place Levia wanted to go and with another neigh coming from the horses, the carriage soon stood. The rider opened the door and so Eren placed the girl’s hand onto her lap before he stepped out first, followed by Levia who gave a short look around to see how many people were there. It was morning and her experience showed that more people came around noon or afternoon. Not that it was too empty either. 

“Carry the boxes over there,” She ordered, pointing at the center of the area they stood at. The prince gave her an amused, little grin before nodding and taking care of the boxes. While he did that, Levia put on her gloves and, together with the rider, carried over a wooden table and placed it right next to the boxes. She brushed off her clothes afterwards and adjusted her hat before reaching down to open the first box which was filled with pastries. Even though they were one day old, the smell still was great; they had an amazing cook. 

Eren smelled the pastries and hummed softly before reaching down to take one of them but before he could touch anything, the princess slapped his hand and gave him a warning look. “Oi. These aren’t for you.” She stated which made Eren pout and take his hand back. “I didn’t eat breakfast yet and-”

“Some people haven’t eaten in days, Eren.” She snapped, furrowing her brows. “I don’t mean to be rude but it’s more important they get the food.” It was obvious from her tone of voice that Levia wasn’t happy about the circumstances of her own country in any way. If she could, she would give everyone enough food and money to live from but she wasn’t in the position to do such a thing yet. Once she was the queen, she would change things. “I’ll get you food later but first we will distribute what we have here. If you don’t want to help, you can always go and do whatever. Nobody’s forcing you to stay and help. If you want to go back, you ca-” 

“Hey- Now take a breath, okay? I didn’t say I don’t want to help you.” He grabbed ahold of her hand and patted her gently, “I get what you mean and you’re right. Let’s do this together.” The brunet smiled reassuringly as Levia sighed and nodded slowly, pulling her hand back and turning to take out the trays of food from the boxes which she placed onto the table. Eren did the same until there was no space on the table anymore and stepped back. He eyed their work for a moment, then glanced at the princess as if asking her what came next. 

The ravenette walked over to the carriage and got out a bell, then made her way back to him and began shaking the bell in her hand to draw the attention of the people on the streets. She did so for a good while before setting the thing down and facing forward, looking at the few first people approaching them. 

“Good morning.” The princess greeted an elderly woman who eyed the table carefully, glancingly between it and the two standing there. 

“Please take this.” Levia grabbed two croissants and held them out for the woman to take. 

After some hesitation, the woman eventually reached out for the food and stared down at it. She soon smiled and looked up again, “Thank you so much. God bless your heart, my child.” 

And this was exactly what Levia was looking forward for; seeing happy people. Just seeing their smile for something as simple as food made her heart swell comfortably with joy. She had more than enough of it and happily shared it all. “If you know someone who needs food let them come here. And if you want more you can come and take as much as you want.” 

The woman thanked them a few times again before walking away with her food. These people were who deserved this food, people who couldn’t afford it, not people who were pretty much drowned in wealth. 

Levia didn’t notice herself but Eren was staring at her all the time and he surely didn’t miss the small yet definitely content smile that was on her lips. He was right: she looked so much more beautiful than she already did by doing something that made her happy. 

He was brought back to reality when there was a little girl tugging at his shirt and looked down at her with a smile and a kind “good morning”. 

“S-sir.. May I have a piece of the croissant for my brother?” 

“Your brother?” He questioned in return, “Don’t you want some for yourself too?”

But the girl just shook her head, looking helpless, “Please.. My brother is sick, he is hurting so much... I just want some food for him s-so he can get h-healthy again. Please, s-sir.” Fat tears welled in her pleading eyes as Eren’s expression saddened. 

“Of course-“ He said quickly and grabbed a few croissants as well as some sugary pastry, handing it all to the girl. “Here. Eat some yourself as well.” He advised before watching the girl running off somewhere and sighed softly. 

Levia watched Eren this time and nodded lightly to herself. “Not bad.” She liked to see this side of him rather than his cocky and bratty side. The ravenette glanced around them for a moment before tapping his shoulder to get his attention. 

Once he turned around, the princess tiptoed, dragged him down and left a small and very quick peck on his cheek. Afterwards, she just turned away again as if nothing even happened and continued handing out the food. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Eren grinning which was more than enough to show he liked this small kiss. Nobody was there to see them and if Eren could just kiss her out of nowhere, she surely could do the same. 

The day was long and once they reached afternoon, almost all of the food was gone. They were just handing out the cake now for everyone who stopped at the table they stood at. The cake was gone relatively quickly in comparison to everything else, probably because it was cake and not even the average person could afford some good cake that often. 

After there was no food left anymore, the princess sighed contently and faced Eren. “You did well. Thank you for helping me with this. I owe you something.” 

“Speaking of,” He inquired, “Could we go somewhere else for a moment?” 

Levia eyed him suspiciously but since she promised it, she nodded and gave the rider a sign to already start tidying up the place while she followed Eren into what seemed to be an alleyway. It was tight and smelled weird and was filthy but at least they were alone so that was a good thing... if it could even be called that. 

“Wha-?!” She suddenly found herself pressed against the wall, her wrists pinned on each side of her head. Her eyes widened in surprise while she stared up at the brunet with confusion. 

“My princess...” Eren whispered, his face moving closer to her neck. His hot breath hit her skin, making her shiver as she tried to pull her hands away but she wasn’t strong enough. When she felt lips touching her neck, she gasped and bit her lip nervously, panting. She never had something like this before, it was all so exciting in a way and the fact that this was probably forbidden made it even more exciting for her in that moment. 

His soft kisses slowly trailed up near her ear what made a moan slip through her lips, her head reluctantly tilting for more. She was so weak and she hated it but with this being the first time experiencing this sensation, she couldn’t control it. “You’re making me crazy.” Eren whispered against her skin and when his tongue touched her skin, her eyes shot wide open. 

“S-stop..” She mentally cursed herself for stuttering and being in this state thanks to him. Her heart was thumping rapidly, sending blood rushing through her whole body. And she began to feel it getting too much in one special area, it was uncomfortable and weird but Levia also could feel that this area could get a real problem if this didn’t stop anytime soon. If Eren felt it or anyone saw it, she would get into much trouble. 

The prince’s mouth latched onto her neck, causing her to feel a pressure on her skin which was similar to a leech. And when she realized that Eren was sucking on her, she quickly acted;

Levia’s knee came up and kicked Eren right between his legs. With a swift move, she managed to throw him to the ground and took a few steps back, creating distance between them. Her hand quickly came up to cover the spot Eren just sucked. While she panted, she stared down at Eren with wide eyes, her cheeks feeling hot as well as her crotch. 

What did he even try? Did he want to try something or did he just want to kiss her this way? Was this normal? Levia was so confused about all the new feelings she was having and seriously had no idea what to think. Maybe this was just the way couples showed affection but she couldn’t know, she hasn’t learned a single thing about that. She was always told that her husband would one day show her how these things worked but she didn’t expect that to happen on the streets. 

The brunet groaned as he hit the hard ground and held his crotch in pain. “Wh-what was that for?!” He snapped and glared up at Levia who continued taking small steps back, “You could’ve just told me to stop-“

“I did!” She interrupted him quickly, panting weakly as she looked around frantically to make sure nobody saw them. 

“...You did?” Eren didn’t notice, he was too distracted with lust in that moment. The boy got up, lifting his hands in surrender. “Listen, I-“

Levi wasn’t at all in the mood now to listen to anything he had to say, she felt too many things at once in that moment and couldn’t focus this way. “No. No, I don’t want to hear it.” She pressed her hand tighter against her neck, taking a deep breath, “We’re going back. Now.” She ordered, turning around and quickly walking back to the carriage. 

She sat down immediately and looked down at her neck where she saw the small bruise Eren created. Sighing, she moved all of her hair over one shoulder so it’d cover that specific spot and folded her arms on her lap to cover the small bulge there as well. It already felt a bit better but it still was there. Until it was gone, she would keep her hands there. 

The brunet climbed into the carriage soon after and quietly took a seat there. Silence surrounded them as the carriage soon took off and they were on their way back to the castle. The princess was frowning deeply in thought, staring out of the window while Eren was quiet as well. 

It took him about half an hour until he decided to speak up and turned slightly to be able to face the princess. “Can you give me two minutes and listen to me?” When she didn’t react to it after some while, Eren carefully placed his hand onto her free shoulder. 

Almost immediately, Levia whipped her head over and shot the brunet a glare, eyes narrowed deeply. She was quiet so Eren just took this as a ‘yes’ and began speaking. 

“Look, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. I just thought that since we’re going to marry anyway this.. shouldn’t be much of a problem. Maybe it was a bit too fast but I didn’t mean any harm, I promise.” The princess eyed his hands closely as they reached out for her own. His touch was gentle and tender, as if he was holding glass in his hands, so Levia let him do this far but nonetheless eyed him closely. 

“You kissed me so I didn’t think it was something you don’t want. I guess I misunderstood the situation, please forgive me.” Technically seen, the princess was still a kid, she couldn’t know about such things just yet and Eren seemed to understand that. He was older and more mature than her so he was responsible for whatever happened between them. 

“Tch.” The girl sounded, pulling her hand back and looking away from him again. She didn’t know what to even say to that so just dropped the conversation like that. She needed time to think about it and convince herself that she hasn’t done anything wrong, only then she would be able to take the next step. It was a sensation she never had before and confused her completely. They weren’t married yet, this just didn’t seem right to her. 

For the next half hour, not even a single word was spoken. Almost as if the carriage was completely empty. It was better this way, though, because Levia used this time to think about what happened and try to decide whether it was alright or not. She wasn’t the person to think about things all day and all night. She just needed a bit of time alone in silence to gather her thoughts, that was enough. And by the time they arrived, she already was much calmer about it and ready to face the problem. 

“Follow me.” The princess said after getting out of the carriage and walked into the castle without another word, expecting Eren to follow her. If he didn’t, that wasn’t her problem. 

The brunet did as told, though, and promptly followed behind the girl. They climbed the stairs and soon arrived at the girl’s chamber which they both entered. The door closed behind them and the shorter girl turned to face Eren, her arms folded over her chest. 

“...What are we doing here?” Eren questioned with a puzzled expression. 

“Talk.” Levia answered simply, walking over to take a seat on her bed. The brunet wasn’t sure whether to sit next to her or not so just stood there with his arms folded behind his back. 

“I forgive you.” The ravenette said then, her gaze calmly staying on her fiancé. “Because we’re going to be married soon. If you were a stranger, you surely wouldn’t be able to get any children anymore.” 

This made Eren chuckle, his tension fading a bit. “You sure know how to get people off you.” He mused, deciding to walk closer and take a seat next to her. “You’re so much shorter, I wonder how you did that.” 

“Practice.” She muttered, giving a small shrug, “I’m the princess but I still want to be able to protect myself if I have to. And pushing off the lustful prince from next door was an easy one.” One corner of her lips tucked up into a smirk upon seeing an offended expression taking over the boy’s face. 

“Excuse me, but only because I don’t hit women doesn’t mean I’m weak.” He defended, clearing his throats as he continued. “If you were a boy and we weren’t engaged, I would’ve beaten you up.”

“Is that so?” Levia clicked her tongue before standing up and brushing off her clothes. “Show me then,” She challenged, “I don’t want you to hold back because I’m a girl or your fiancée. Come and show me how you beat people up.”

Eren sat completely dumbfounded, staring with wide eyes as the ravenette took off her hat and tied her hair up into a messy bun. “Are you crazy? No. I won’t do it.”

“Oh? Are you scared to lose to a girl?” She didn’t like how girls were always seen as the weaker gender- even if she herself wasn’t really a girl. She just wanted to throw Eren and his cocky self to the ground and break his pride. 

“That’s not it. If I hurt you on accident, everyone will think I’m hitting you on purpose.” The brunet explained, shaking his head lightly while Levia slipped out of her shoes and rolled up her sleeves. 

“That’s not the point, you’re just scared to be beaten up by someone shorter than you.” She stated and placed her hands on her hips. “Let’s make it more interesting then.” 

The prince cocked an eyebrow at that statement and wordlessly stared at the princess as she continued. “If you win, I’ll let you kiss me wherever you want.” She paused then, Eren’s eyes widening with that little gleam in them which showed it was exactly what he wanted. 

“But.” Levia added firmly, eyes narrowing a little, “If I win, you’ll have to clean up the stables tonight. Alone.” She had to enjoy it to some extent too and seeing this conceited brat cleaning horse shit certainly would be amusing. 

The brunet seemed hesitant for the first few moments but soon, he pulled himself up on his feet and took off his shoes as well. “Alright, deal. Just know I won’t hold back now, not when I can kiss you wherever I want.” The amount of security and certainty in his voice was so much, it was laughable. Adorable. 

“Whatever. Just don’t tell anyone about this and I try to not hit your face. I don’t need a bruised husband on my wedding day.” She steadied herself, feet pressed onto the ground as she took a deep breath and calmly exhaled, then formed her hands into fists. 

“Don’t worry, I don’t think you even reach my face from down there.” He countered and wandered around a bit, keeping his eyes on Levia. 

“Tch!” The girl lunged forward quickly and threw a hard punch into Eren’s stomach. It made the boy stumble a few steps back and stare at the princess with big, surprised eyes. “Wh-what the-“ 

And there already came the next kick right into his thigh, causing the taller male to lose balance and fall onto his knees. “What was that just now?” She questioned lowly as Eren glanced up at her. 

The boy bit his lip, his hands holding his aching stomach and leg, “Damn... You’re hot.” He muttered breathlessly before getting up to his feet again and clearing his throats. “A shame I have to hurt you. But don’t worry, I’ll kiss away all your boo-boos.”

“Oi.” She interrupted, rolling her eyes annoyedly. “If you’d act as much as you spoke, that’d be something I could work with at least.” The ravenette raised her hand again, ready to strike him yet again, though, this time Eren managed to grab her fist and quickly spun her around to keep her in place by having her own arms wrapped around her torso. 

“Now, now. Don’t get ahead of yourself, princess.” He whispered teasingly into her ear but also used this position to hug his fiancée for a moment or two. 

As Levia’s back was pressed against Eren’s chest, she slowly pressed herself further against him and tilted her head up to whisper back to him. “You shouldn’t be so naive. Watch and learn.” Suddenly, she gripped his arms tightly and took a step to the left, then a quick one back and soon, the prince was thrown over her shoulder to the ground. 

He groaned uncomfortably when his back hit the ground for the second time that day and cursed under his breath. His eyes slowly blinked open and he eyed the princess who now was restraining his arms by using the band which was tied around her waist before. She kept him down by sitting on his stomach and pressing his arms to the floor over his head, her face just inches apart from his. 

The brunet tried to get his hands free or push Levia off himself but it was no use, he just couldn’t move any further than that. “I win.” She stated calmly, tapping his cheek with her index finger. “Next time, you don’t kiss me without asking me first. Clear?” 

It was payback for the hickey he gave her as well as the kiss in front of everyone on their engagement: getting beaten by a girl and having to clean up the stables at night. She was just making sure it all was fair and he would learn. 

The princess knew there was no way Eren could’ve beaten her because he didn’t seem focused enough from the first minute already. It was easy for her. 

Her finger slowly trailed over his cheek and down to his neck and shoulder, drawing small circles there. “...Fine.” The boy uttered after some silence and turned his head away to look somewhere else. “Just so you know, I’ve let you win.” 

“No.” The princess said calmly, shaking her head as her hand turned Eren’s face over so he was forced to look at her. “You lost. Deal with it, learn from it. We’ll see who wins next time.” She could use someone to practice with and who would be better than her fiancé? She believed he wouldn’t tell anyone what they did and so it wouldn’t hurt her reputation. And seeing that he didn’t have much of a problem with it, other than being the one losing, it made her feel more comfortable with him around. 

“I didn’t lose- You cheated! You used your band to tie my hands!” The brunet complained, shooting Levia a glare who calmly got up from him. 

As she brushed off her clothes, she spoke indifferently, “All is fair in love and war.” The band was part of her dress so technically she had all right to use it as she pleased. 

“Love~?” The brunet purred while attempting to untie his hands and grinned in a teasing but also kind of seductive way. 

Levia just stared down at gave a firm shake of the head. “War.” She corrected. While the prince struggled to undo the band, Levia walked over to her dressing table and used some of her makeup to cover the hickey on her neck, making sure there was no way it’d be visible to anyone, not even she herself. 

The makeup luckily covered her skin well enough so she wouldn’t have to worry about getting suspicious looks or anything. When she finished, the princess saw Eren still sitting where he was with a pout on his lips. He didn’t put much effort into trying to untangle the band and was just fiddling around with it. 

“Oi. What’s wrong with you?” The ravenette asked, glancing at him from her mirror. 

Though, the boy just shrugged and muttered a small ‘nothing’. Of course, Levia didn’t believe it was nothing and walked over to crouch down by his side. She took care of the band herself and, soon, Eren’s hands were free. 

Eren still somehow looked sad to her. She couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was but her guess was that he was a bit overwhelmed to be beaten by her. With the band still in her hands, she lifted his face, staring into his eyes. “Stop sulking.” Where was that stupid grin when she needed it? The way he looked now was almost depressing and Levia didn’t like it at all. 

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” Eren mustered a smile for her and stood up to walk over and grab his shoes. He then walked back to Levia, took her hand and gently kissed the back of it. “I lost so I’ll do what you told me to. I just think I’ll be late for dinner, so could you let everyone know I’m busy?” 

After seeing a nod, the prince let go of Levia’s hand and stepped out of her room to go and clean up the stables. Cleaning the stables... there would be much work waiting for him and, since he didn’t want to work through the night, Eren wanted to start early. Even if he missed dinner after he just missed every other meal of the day, he would do so because he made a deal with Levia and he wouldn’t like to disappoint her. So, the prince left the room and headed straight to the stables. 

In the meantime, Levia fixed her clothes as well as her hair. She was about to retie the band around her waist but was confused when she didn’t see it anywhere. It was in her hands just a minute ago, now it was gone. How weird. Luckily, she had other ones and just used a new one to tie it around her waist. She would find the first band later on. 

Right when she was about to walk out of her room, she was stopped by her mother who opened her door and stared at her daughter. “Is everything alright? I heard a loud noise- did you fall or something?” Naturally, as a mother, Kuchel was worried for her child and didn’t like to see her hurting herself. 

The woman began checking Levia for any injuries, a soft frown on her lips. “I’m fine, mom.” The girl said calmly, stopping her mother’s hands by gently taking ahold of them. “Something fell down, nothing to worry about.” 

After a long sigh, Kuchel nodded and cupped the girl’s face tenderly, pressing a kiss on her forehead. “Alright. Dinner will be served soon, don’t be late.” 

Levia’s eyes closed for a good moment, taking in the feeling of her mother’s kiss. “I’m not hungry right now. And tell the others Eren is busy.” If she would go and eat after she was the reason Eren didn’t have any food all day, it’d make her uncomfortable. They could snug out some food any time and eat together somewhere else once Eren was done cleaning up. 

“Oh? You’re not hungry and Eren is busy? What a coincidence.” Her tone was teasing just like the little grin on her lips and Levia could tell where this was leading to. 

“Yes.” The princess confirmed, folding her arms over her chest. She eyed her mother through suspicious eyes until they widened when Kuchel began tickling her sides. 

“Look at you growing up! You like him, don’t you? You’re different when you’re with him! I’m your mother, I know it!” The woman exclaimed, her voice dripping with happiness while the princess struggled to keep back any noises. “M-mom-! Sto-HAHA-! S-stop! Please!” 

Levia stepped back in attempts to flee her mother’s tickling but, unfortunately for her, her mother followed her all the way inside. “Say it! Say you like him!” Kuchel might be the queen of a big country but at the same time she was also a mother- a very happy mother. And admittingly, a little childish. 

“No!” Levia somehow managed to escape her mother’s tickling and was now running away from her while she was being chased by Kuchel. “You’ll be too late for dinner! I’m sure everyone is already waiting for you!” 

“Let them wait then! This is more important!” The older women said with a laugh, grabbing Levia by her arm and pulling her over to the bed. Once there, she began to tickle her mercilessly as the room filled with breathless laughter. 

The princess squirmed, panting between laughs while she tried to push away the hands attacking her. “M-mom! Stop!” She exclaimed, shutting her eyes tightly. “I won’t stop until you’re honest with me!” Her mother said cheerfully. 

Levia endured the torment a while longer but if there was one thing she couldn’t bear for long, it was when she was tickled. And her mother knew too well. “M-mooom-!” She gasped heavily for air, a single tear rolling down her cheek. “F-fine. Fine, I’ll say it b-but stop..” 

When Kuchel heard that, her eyes lit up and her hands stopped moving while she expectantly looked at the princess, her smile big. “I’m waiting~” She singsang softly. 

Levia took deep breaths so she would be calmer before turning her head so she didn’t have to look at her mother. This was so embarrassing. She grumbled something under her breath which Kuchel didn’t understand, so she poked her sides as a warning. The ravenette sighed deeply before facing her mother and speaking firmly. “He’s alright. He’s annoying and a brat and...” She murmured, blood rushing to her cheeks and covering them in a faint shade of pink. “And really cocky. But he’s alright. He’s.. a nice person.” The girl admitted, her voice softening a little at the end. 

Kuchel listened to her daughter speaking about the prince and felt her chest swelling comfortably. Levia couldn’t choose who she would marry but realizing that her husband hasn’t made a mistake by deciding to bound these two people, and to see clearly that Levia wasn’t sad about this decision either, was such a huge relief. She knew Levia didn’t like the idea of getting married to someone she didn’t know, it was understandable. But ever since Eren came, she seemed more open and, yeah, happier. At least that was how it looked like in Kuchel’s eyes. 

“Aaaand?” Her mother added, her smirk growing more and more. 

“And...” The ravenette paused. She sighed softly, then spoke a little quieter, “...I like him.” Not that way. She liked him as a person. 

“See? I knew it!” Kuchel cheered gleefully, pulling her daughter up to embrace her. “That’s great. That makes me really happy, sweetheart.”

Levia leaned up into the kiss that was pressed on her head next and wrapped her arms around her mother in return. The girl rested her eyes, leaning her head onto her mother’s shoulder. She was glad that she made her mother happy, it made her happy in return. 

Some minutes passed like that in silence with the two just sitting there and enjoying to be in each other’s arms. “I love you, mom.” The ravenette broke the silence and pulled back to face her mother. 

“I love you too, sweetheart.” The words made Levia smile, made her feel happy and protected and loved. “I should get going then, Carla and Grisha are most likely already waiting for me. In case you two decide later on that you’re hungry, just tell the cook, alright?” 

Levia nodded and watched as her mother stood up from the bed and brushed out the small wrinkles on her dress. Afterwards, she caressed her daughter’s cheek gently and finally made her way out of the room to go and meet the others for dinner. 

Once her mother was out, Levia approached her window and leaned her arms against the sill, glancing outside. The clear sky wasn’t as bright anymore, the sun was slowly setting, creating a wonderfully beautiful play of pastel, of orange and red and blue and yellow with just a few, shining dots gleaming through. The view was simply breathtaking. 

She could see Eren from where she stood and decided to watch him for a bit to see if he really was putting effort into cleaning the stables or not. To see if he was working or he let others work for him. 

Surprisingly enough, it seemed as if the prince sent everyone else out and was taking care of the stables all on himself. It was more than Levia asked for but she wouldn’t complain as long as the stables were clean at the end of the day. 

Once looking out of the window got boring (because Eren disappeared somewhere inside and she couldn’t see him anymore), Levia got back to her bed and let herself fall back into the soft mattress. Staring up at the ceiling, her eyes slowly flattered shut and the princess fell asleep. A short nap wouldn’t hurt and would surely do her some good after such a long, exhausting day. 

The princess awoke a couple of hours later to a chilly cold gust blowing into her room. The window was still open and now that it got night, it became really cold. Her whole body shivered and she reluctantly got up to walk over and close that window quickly, having draped a blanket over her shoulders. She was about to just walk back to bed but stopped in her tracks when she saw something outside. In all this darkness, there was one single light lighting down where the stables were. 

Eren was still there, he was still cleaning? What a brat. Needless to say, she couldn’t just let him work in that cold and got out of her room without a second thought. When she stepped outside and came into direct contact with the air, she pulled her blanket closer to get some more warmth and walked over to the stables quietly. 

The main door was open so she just stepped inside and looked around for her fiancé. He couldn’t be seen anywhere which made the princess frown a little. “Tch.” He had to be there anywhere- all the cleaning utensils were still laying around everywhere but there was no sign of Eren and it was getting colder. 

“Brat. Where are you?” She called out, walking through the straw that laid over the ground and looking around for the brunet. She almost stumbled when she turned around the corner and looked down just to see Eren laying against a hay bale on the floor with his eyes closed. 

Levia glared down at him for a good minute before realizing he must have fallen asleep in the middle of working. Instead, the princess crouched down beside him and reached up to gently touch his cheek. His skin was ice cold compared to her hand and without hesitation, the princess used her blanket to cover Eren instead to make sure he wouldn’t freeze to death. He reacted good to the blanket, thanks to it already being warmed up by Levia a second ago, and shuffled a little to sit more comfortably. 

The frown on the girl’s face loosened and was replaced by one of concern. Eren should get out of the cold soon or else he’d end up sick. But for some odd reason, Levia didn’t want to wake him yet. He looked so peaceful while sleeping, so calm, so.. beautiful. Before she knew it herself, her thumb brushed over the boy’s soft, full lips a few times as she inched closer to him. She blinked between his lips and his eyes, not wanting to wake him and get embarrassed. 

Her mother was right: she did like him, she was different around him. And Levia wasn’t planning to change that anytime soon because once they would marry, she’d like to keep things between them the way they were and extend their relationship in the positive way. The princess bit her lower lip lightly while watching the resting face, mentally debating with herself for some while before the gap between them closed and their lips pressed together. 

There wasn’t much action in the kiss, considering it was Levia’s first, but still good enough. This sensation was better than earlier that day because the princess knew what was going on and was in control of the situation. 

Well, that was until she felt Eren returning the kiss and felt his hand cupping the back of her neck. Her eyes widened for a moment but instead of pulling back, she just uncomfortably froze in her position for a few tense seconds. The hand on her neck gave her small rubs, the cold fingers making her shiver ever so lightly, and Levia slowly closed her eyes again and let it all happen. She started it and stopping just because Eren returned the kiss was a little stupid. 

There was a change in the way Eren kissed her now. Before, he was lustful and horny and who knew what, he was blindly lead by these feelings which caused big discomfort for them both. But now, she didn’t feel any of that. She felt something softer, something more gentle and tender and not one-sided, and that was what let her stay in that position and keep the kiss. 

Their lips didn’t move much, it was rather just the pressing against each other that was called the ‘kiss’, though, it was more than enough for her because she didn’t want to overwhelm herself with too much passion yet. Eren followed her pace and she was thankful for that. 

The kiss only lasted a few seconds before Levia abruptly pulled back and stood up, leaving Eren disappointed. “Enough. Get up now, you’re going to freeze to death otherwise.” She tried to somehow hide the small blush on her face by acting more harshly but it was no use, she could tell Eren saw it already. 

“What if I don’t want to get up?” The brunet questioned, his lips curled into a happy, soft smile. “I want to sit here some longer with you, my princess.” 

Before Levia could even ask what he meant with that, she already found herself being pulled down on his lap and shot him a glare. “I don’t want to sit in filth. Also, it’s cold. Get up already.” But Eren didn’t let her stand up and kept his arms wrapped around her waist securely. 

“Please? Just for a bit?” He pleaded, eyes big and lips pouty. Damn him for looking so cute. 

“...Fine.” Levia muttered through her teeth, folding her arms over her chest and staring ahead. She could deal with it for a few minutes. 

The boy smiled brightly and draped the blanket Levia brought earlier over the two of them, pulling the girl closer to his chest. “I don’t want you to freeze to death either, so I’ll keep you warm.” He explained softly, adjusting the blanket so it’d cover the princess better. 

With a sigh, Levia decided to just go with it and rested against the boy’s chest, her head on his shoulder. “Your cleaning is alright.” She purposely didn’t tell him it was good, otherwise he’d think she was praising him, which she didn’t really. He was good, the stables looked clean, but Eren didn’t need to know that. 

The prince hummed in response to Levia and started rubbing her back up and down, slowly and gently. It was soothing and relaxing, comfortable, to be treated like that. At some point, one of her arms wrapped around Eren’s torso to hold him in return and she closed her eyes. The prince had both arms around his fiancée, hugging her close to himself as he leaned his head on top of hers and closed his eyes as well. 

Levia wanted to get up and walk back inside but she couldn’t, not when Eren was holding her like that and everything was just so warm. Sighing, she rested her hand on his chest and gave him a small pat. “We need to go back inside soon, though.” She reminded as she pulled back enough to face him. 

“‘Soon’ isn’t now. Let’s just stay like that a bit longer.” His hand came up to touch the girl’s cheek and gently brushed her bangs away from her forehead, just to press a long kiss right there. 

It made Levia’s eyes widen for a moment before her gaze softened and she moved her arms to wrap them around his neck instead. “What a brat you are...” She murmured, watching the smile on his face silently. 

She herself wasn’t exactly smiling, but there was a fondness in her expression. There surely wasn’t any discomfort. 

“I like you. Even if you, uh, won our bet-“

“You mean beat you up.” The princess interrupted teasingly. 

“-However you call it.” He huffed softly, “The point is, I like you and your personality and the way you are. You’re really beautiful. And I mean your face as well as your self. I really admire that about you.” 

The more Eren spoke about liking and admiring her, the more Levia tried to not make it obvious that she liked hearing all that. Now, it felt right. Right to sit with him, to hug him, to marry him. She didn’t have this weird feeling in her stomach anymore, knowing they could both learn to love each other step by step. 

“I see..” Although she had no idea why Eren was saying all that out of nowhere, she didn’t mind one bit. The princess left a quick and light peck on Eren’s cheek before they resumed to hugging each other and creating warmth between them to freeze a bit less but also for comfort. 

Just sitting there like that almost made Levia fall asleep again. Eren’s arms holding her gave her the feeling of safety and security, as if all bad would stay far away from them. In that moment, the princess didn’t think about anything and let the silence pass by. 

In front of Eren, the princess didn’t need to act as the princess to be accepted. She could be her pure, true self and knew her fiancé wouldn’t mind it, especially now after hearing he liked her the way she acted when they were alone. 

“By the way,” The brunet spoke, nuzzling his cold nose into the girl’s cheek, “I’d like to take you out tomorrow. I came with you today, so I want to take you somewhere tomorrow. Am I allowed to?”

Levia closed one eye when she felt his nose on her cheek and stared at him for a couple of seconds in silence before asking back, “Where?” 

“That’s a surprise.” Eren grinned. 

“Then it’s a no.” 

“What? Why that?” The prince pouted sadly, squeezing Levia lightly. “You can’t do that. I want to take you somewhere as a surprise! Don’t you trust me enough to go with me?” 

“I don’t.” The princess uttered shortly as she reached up to play with some strands of Eren’s hair. 

“Come on.” He playfully poked her cheek with his finger, “It’s a surprise and I’m sure you’ll like it. But if I tell you where, it’s not a surprise anymore. Pretty please?” And there it was again. This damned pout, these cursed eyes. Levia hated him for that. 

“I’ll think about it.” She offered, twirling a strand of brown hair around her finger. But Eren’s pout only grew at that which made Levia frown. Wherever he wanted to take her, he really had to mean it. It wasn’t just because they were engaged, it was because he wanted to take her with him, not the princess. 

“Ugh.” The girl sighed deeply, then nodded, “Fine. I’ll go with you.” Such a stupid brat, but Levia couldn’t help but like his persistence. 

Eren’s eyes lit up at that, he looked like a child who was allowed to eat another candy. “That’s great! You won’t regret it! Thank you!” Without any warning, Levia felt Eren smashing their lips together and raised her brows in surprise. 

Though, she pulled back from the kiss and flicked Eren’s forehead. “Don’t kiss me like that.” It wasn’t that it felt bad, the feeling of being kissed was a good one, Levia just didn’t like being taken back by surprise like that. 

“Huh?” The brunet didn’t look pleased and questioned sadly, “Are you telling me I have to ask before I can kiss you but you can do it whenever you want to?” 

A firm “yes”. 

“That’s no fun.” Eren sighed and gently pinched the girl’s cheek, “Can I kiss you?” He asked then, grinning teasingly. But it only made Levia roll her eyes and shake her head as she finally pulled back and stood up. 

“No. We’re going back inside now and eat, then you go to bed and sleep.” She spoke while smoothing out the small wrinkles of her dress. “I wouldn’t want you to be dead tired tomorrow when we’re leaving.” 

The brunet immediately shot up and cleared his throats, suppressing a grin. “Of course, yeah. Tomorrow when we’re leaving together.” He repeated for emphasis and used the blanket to wrap it around Levia’s shoulders. In the next moment, Levia found herself losing the ground under her feet. Literally. 

Eren lifted her and carried the girl bridal style who glared up at the brunet. “Put me down.” She ordered almost angrily. She didn’t like being carried, she never liked it. It made her feel weak, like a child, and she certainly wasn’t either. 

On the other hand, the brat again looked quite amused by her demanding tone and proudly kept the princess high up. “Nope. You’re my fiancée and I have all right to at least carry you the way back to the castle.” And with that, Eren began walking, forcing Levia to stay more or less still in his arms to avoid herself from falling to the ground. 

To just make it easier for them both, the princess stopped moving and instead glared up at the brunet all the way until they were inside. He even carried her to the table and set her onto the chair before taking a seat himself and calling for the cook to get food, primarily for Levia because he wasn’t sure whether she ate yet or not, but also for himself. 

Levia was staring at Eren while they waited for the food, while they ate and even when they finished. The brunet wasn’t uncomfortable because of that but nonetheless spoke up after a while, just to tease her again, “Am I that handsome for you to stare at me like that all the time?” 

“Tch. You wish.” Eren was handsome, no question, but she didn’t want to give him that satisfaction and tell him. Not that it was the reason she stared at him to begin with. “I’m going to my room now. Good night.” 

Before Levia could leave, she was stopped by Eren grabbing her hand and pulling her back. It almost made her stumble but she instantly found herself pressed against his chest and stared up at him unamusedly. “What?” 

The brunet just smiled fondly. “I want to kiss you before you go. Can I?” 

Truth be told, the ravenette didn’t expect Eren to really listen to her and ask her before kissing her. She liked it, liked that he respected her decisions. 

Without saying much more, Levia tiptoed and pressed her lips against his, keeping the kiss for a good moment before pulling out of his grip and leaving him without another word. She still had no idea where Eren planned to take her but she wanted to be rested and not tired in the morning, so she went to sleep rather quickly. 

When morning rolled around, Levia was woken by someone knocking on her door. After she gave a soft grunt in response, she could hear the steps fading and slowly sat up to get ready for the day. At first, she just bluntly stared into her room for a while for no reason before actually getting up. 

The princess dressed casually again because, wherever this brat wanted to take her, she didn’t want to be the center of attention. She despised it. After being dressed, she made her way downstairs to greet her mother and Eren’s parents, though, the brat himself couldn’t be seen anywhere yet. 

“Ah- I’m not too late!” The voice behind her couldn’t belong to anyone else, so Levia didn’t even turn around when Eren walked over to her side and proudly stood next to her. 

“The carriage is ready and I’ve packed everything.” He spoke to Kuchel, “We should be back by tomorrow, early in the morning at last.” 

“What?” The girl raised a brow, “Tomorrow is the wedding. We can’t be gone for so long.” She reminded calmly. 

“It’s no problem, sweetheart. We made sure you’ll be back early enough to be prepared for everything tomorrow.” Her mother smiled. 

Levia wasn’t very sure about being gone for this long with Eren, something could always happen and she just didn’t want to make things harder by risking it to be late on her own wedding. Her mother gave her that determined look and even Eren’s parents looked content with the decision. 

She had a somewhat weird feeling about it all; about being alone with Eren, mostly. It wasn’t fear, Levia wasn’t scared of anyone nor anything, it was rather just a little discomfort. A whole day and night alone with Eren... She was excited because Eren was a good person in her eyes and they could have a decent time but, in a way, she didn’t want this. Especially because she didn’t know where they were going. 

But she couldn’t say any of that in front of their parents, they would think she didn’t feel comfortable with it or didn’t like it, which she wanted to avoid, more so after seeing them all so happy about them leaving together. The most important person in her life was her mother, and if that was what brought a smile to her lips, she was more than happy to do so. 

“Is something wrong, dear?” Eren’s mother asked, her expression one of worry and sympathy, “If you don’t want to go, we understand. We won’t force you to do something you’re uncomfortable with.” She must’ve noticed it, or maybe she didn’t, either way, Levia couldn’t let them believe that. 

“Of course not.” The princess answered calmly, giving a small shake of her head, “I would feel honored to go with your son. There’s nothing bothering me.” 

Eren’s mother stepped closer and threw her arms around the shorter girl for a hug, patting her back tenderly. “I’m happy to hear that. I’m sure you both will have a lot of fun and can relax before the big day comes.” Even if Levia wasn’t completely sure about it, she hoped so too. 

The woman let go of her again and the princess turned to Eren’s father, the king, and dropped a curtsy who in return placed a gentle hand onto her head. Finally, Levia turned to her own mother and walked over to pull her into a hug, her eyes fluttering close. 

They remained in this position, they both just holding each other. It was the first time the princess would spend the night somewhere outside, of course it was hard for Kuchel to just let her go. The queen trusted Eren with her one and only child because they practically were already married. He would carry the responsibility for everything that’d happen. 

It was harder than first thought, but after a tight squeeze and a last kiss on the head, Levia and Eren climbed into the carriage and waved goodbye to their parents. This time, Eren was holding the reins of the horses with Levia sitting next to him. 

“We’ll see you tomorrow! Goodbye!” The brunet called out one last time, then turned to the front to focus on the roads. 

Levia saw big boxes on the back of the carriage, which she assumed were their clothes, food, and probably money. Knowing her mother, she could be sure they haven’t forgotten anything and calmly leaned back. 

“Are you telling me where we’re going now?” There was some annoyance in her voice, but also genuine confusion. Where could Eren take her for a whole day? She had absolutely no clue. 

“Nope” was the only answer coming from the prince which was followed by silence between the two. The ravenette used that silence to look around and eye their surroundings, to try and find out where this brat was taking her. She saw that they left the city, so it definitely was somewhere she never was before. She was lost and stopped thinking about it. 

“Hey. Did you know?” The prince spoke, breaking the comforting silence. 

“What do I know, brat.” Levia shot back, her voice rather monotonous. 

“In Germany, they use ‘wunderschön’ to call someone ‘beautiful’.” He explained with a soft smile, turning his head to look at Levia while he continued, “It’s ‘Wunder’ and ‘schön’ which literally means ‘miracle’ and ‘beautiful’. Your beauty is a miracle sent by God himself. And I’m the lucky one who is allowed to have this beauty all to myself.” 

Levia sat there dumbfounded, not having expected Eren to say something like that out of nowhere, so she just stared at him in silence for a good minute before turning away. “Tch..” She felt the urge to smile because of Eren’s silliness but suppressed it the best she could. 

The brunet wrapped his arm around the girl’s shoulders to hold her and kissed her head. “You’re wunderschön, my princess.” He said softly and faced forward again while the princess kept her gaze down at her lap. It was very often that people called her beautiful but nobody ever said it the way Eren did. For the first time, she honestly felt beautiful. 

Levia hesitantly wrapped her own arm around Eren’s torso and leaned her head against his shoulder as she closed her eyes. She didn’t say anything about Eren calling her that but, from the way she acted, it was obvious she liked it. And it was obvious Eren noticed. 

The girl closed her eyes, letting the time pass while she just relaxed and stayed close to Eren the whole way. It was a miracle itself how Levia was holding Eren the whole way since she really wasn’t the most touchy person and preferred to have her own space. But with Eren, she just felt different. A good different. 

It was a long way for them. They took a break after about two hours to eat a bit and feed the horses before continuing their journey. Another two hours passed with some small chatting here and there until Levia heard a sound coming from afar. “Hm?” She listened carefully, the sound of something rushing, something splattering and splashing and pounding. 

“What’s that sound?” She asked aloud, furrowing her brows in confusion. There wasn’t anything she could see yet but she could smell a very delightful and distinctive scent. Even a little chemical, a little briny. What was that smell? That was the first time ever she heard such sounds and smelled things like these. Needless to say, it confused her greatly. 

“You’ll know soon.” The brunet answered, a soft hum leaving his lips. So he wasn’t going to tell her even now? Sure, not knowing where they were and exploring it herself was exciting, but at the same time she still preferred to know where she was. 

Levia rolled her eyes annoyedly and sat up straight, narrowing her eyes in an attempt to see better. The sounds came practically from everywhere, so it was hard to focus on one specific point. 

They were riding up a hill and everything began getting more intensive: the splashing got louder, the smell got stronger, and she knew that meant they were getting closer and closer. Whatever this place was, she never had seen it before. That was for sure. 

They got closer and closer and when she was about to catch a glimpse of the place, she found Eren holding her eyes close with his hand. “Oi! What are you doing?!” He couldn’t just close her eyes when she was this close to finding out where they were! It was so unfair. 

“Shh. I want you to keep your eyes closed until we stop and get down.” Eren explained, giving her cheek a kiss, and made sure his hand stayed on her eyes, made sure she wouldn’t see until he wanted her to. “I want this to stay a surprise. Please?”

At first, Levia was really pissed and tried to yank his hand back to see where they were. It was killing her not to know where they were, to be this insecure. She wasn’t used to it. The princess always made sure everything was planned thoroughly by herself so that she knew what, when, where and how. Since Eren came into her life, in this short span of time, everything began to change. 

But Levia gritted her teeth, really trying to keep calm. “Tch!” It’d just be a matter of minutes now, and if Levia could sit calmly for hours before, she could do so for a few minutes longer. “This better be worth it, brat.” She grumbled with a deep frown, giving in to Eren and letting him decide when he would take his hand away again. 

“It’s more than worth it, trust me. It’s my favorite place in the whole world. It’s so beautiful.” The brunet leaned against the princess, his head rested on top of hers. There came a sudden gust of cold air, making the girl shiver. “It’s nowhere nearly as beautiful as you. But it’s still amazing.” If she could, she would’ve rolled her eyes from how cheesy that was. Instead, she just clicked her tongue annoyedly. 

Finally, the carriage stopped and Eren put down the reins, “I’ll help you down but please don’t open your eyes yet. I trust you.” Eren’s hand slowly moved away from Levia’s eyes and, good for him, she really kept her eyes closed and didn’t try to look yet. “I’ll carry you now, so don’t be scared.”

Before Levia could even argue in any way, she was lifted and instinctively threw her arms around the brunet’s neck, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. “Brat,” She muttered with a frown, then exhaled deeply and tried to focus again. 

The prince carried her down from the carriage and took a few steps closer to where the noises were coming from. The girl was set down gently as Eren stood next to her and looked at her face. “...Now. You can open your eyes now.” 

Levia was glad Eren finally decided to let her see where they were and slowly opened her eyes. She blinked twice before her eyes shot wide open, the frown on her face suddenly disappearing, being replaced by a look of sheer surprise and something that could only be utter joy, euphoria, simple elation. 

Her lips parted to gasp ever so softly, her eyes taking in the sight in front of her. The first thing she saw was water, a lot of water. It seemed endless, so huge. It was splashing around, waves forming and making their way to the shore in front of their feet. The tide came in, then went out, leaving the sand underneath soaked as the process repeated once, twice, a dozen times. 

Then her gaze lifted up to the clear sky where the sun was shining brightly, radiating warmth and comfort. The clear blue was perfectly fading with a hint of white near the sun, getting just a little darker the farther away it was from the sun. Big, white gulls flew at the horizon, making the already perfect scenery only more perfect. 

While the princess looked around, she soon met Eren’s gaze who was still looking at her with a smile she recognized immediately. His smile was soft, affectionate, tender, accompanied by his bright eyes which were sparkling in the sunlight. The usual bright green now had specks of gold in them, it almost was as if the sun was beaming from Eren’s eyes. “Do you like it here?”

Levia was absolutely dumbfounded by the glorious sight that she couldn’t talk for a good minute, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly. She breathed in and out deeply, closing her eyes for a moment to gather herself before facing Eren with an expression he never saw before and which hit him with a feeling he never felt before. 

The ravenette was smiling, and it was more than evident on her face. Both corners of her lips curled all the way up, her eyes were soft and appeared bigger than usual because she stopped frowning completely. There was no hint of annoyance nor anger in her face, only pleasant happiness and fond affection and admiration. 

“...Yeah.” She murmured softly as another gust of wind passed them, swirling around her hair and clothes. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, she continued, “I do. It really is beautiful here.” And it was more than obvious she liked it. This was the first time someone ever took her out of town and it was the first time she ever saw the ocean. She was happy Eren was the one who brought her to this place and forced her to go with him. Being surprised this way was a good feeling, it was better than knowing what was waiting for her. 

Eren chuckled and took a step closer to his fiancée, “I’m glad. I love seeing you smile.” He cupped her face with one hand, eyes flicking between her lips and eyes. This was a sight he wanted to cherish and keep forever. Making Levia happy made him happy in return, made him smile and beam. 

The girl just couldn’t stop smiling. Eren was a brat for sure but he also was an incredibly sweet guy and proved himself one more time. 

Levia tiptoed so she could wrap her arms around his neck and closed her eyes as she pressed their lips together, kissing Eren happily. All her emotions were put in this simple kiss, all her joy and her love for what Eren did for her. It caught Eren by surprise at first, but it didn’t take long for him to place his hands on Levia’s waist and lean a bit down to make it easier for her to reach him. The princess was pretty short and with Eren being that tall, it was a little tricky and funny, but not something that’d hold her back from kissing him- at least not in a moment like that. 

It was the longest and most emotional she kissed him this far, and Levia could feel a spark between them, something she never would’ve expected to happen. When she first found out she would have to marry someone her father chose, she was profoundly convinced that she could never love or even like a stranger she never met before. She believed that they would just live with each other instead of living together, but this certainly changed by meeting Eren. Who couldn’t like someone like him? Of course, everyone had something annoying about themselves, but the positive things easily overweighted all that. 

Their kiss lasted for a couple of long moments before the princess finally broke the kiss to press her face into his neck. Eren hugged her by her waist, lifted her off the ground and spun her around as a happy laugh escaped his lips. Once he placed her back onto the ground again, Levia pulled back to face him. The smile on her lips faded a little, though it was still big enough to be visible, just not as intense anymore. “Thank you for taking me here. I really appreciate it.” Levia spoke with genuine gratitude. 

“Anything for my princess.” The prince replied, giving her cheek a kiss before pulling his arms away to give her the chance to look around better, which the princess then did. It all just looked so breathtaking, most of all the water. Never in a thousand years, she would’ve believed the ocean was that big- and this was just one part. The world was full of surprises, she just realized. 

As she approached the water slowly, Levia slipped out of her shoes and grabbed her dress to lift it enough so it wouldn’t get wet while she slowly stepped into the water. Shivering at the cold temperature, she stopped for a moment, almost as if she wanted to turn back, but Levia took another few steps further before actually standing. 

The water almost reached her knees, the small waves passing her while her toes dug into the sand underneath them. The girl took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she enjoyed this new feeling. She felt at peace with only the sounds of the sea surrounding her. It was something she wouldn’t mind getting used to. 

Levia stood there for a few minutes and not even Eren dared to say or do anything, letting her take the time she wanted and needed. Only more than ten or twenty minutes later, Levia decided she had enough and turned around to walk out again. Walking into the water was easier than walking out. Levia lost her balance as a larger wave came and plopped back into the water. 

“Agh-!” The ravenette quickly sat up and attempted to cough out the water she accidentally swallowed. Another wave came and drowned the girl underneath who tried to get up somehow but struggled and was caught under the water where she was being pulled into every and any direction. The dress she wore wasn’t very helpful in that moment either because suddenly her legs didn’t know how to find their way out of it anymore and just stepped onto it which made it pretty hard to actually stand up. 

Holding her breath as best as she could, the princess tried to crawl out but was dragged back every time she took a step forward. She was dragged further and further away and for a moment, she really thought she wasn’t going to make it, thought she would drown pathetically right there and then. She couldn’t hold her breath forever, after all, at some point she would have to give up. 

That was until she felt someone grabbing her hand and pulling her up and out of the water. Levia immediately began coughing and wheezing uncontrollably, clinging with one hand onto who turned out to be Eren. “Are you alright?!” The boy asked worriedly and set his princess down on the sand with a good and safe distance to the water. He began patting her back gentle yet firm to help her ride out the coughing. 

Levia’s throats were burning like fire, her eyes bloodshot red from the salt water. It took her a while until she slowly stopped coughing and panted instead, staring at the water with wide eyes. “-okay.” A mere whisper which soon was followed by a weak “I’m fine”. The princess nodded her head lightly, taking deep breaths before slowly looking down at her trembling hands which were clenching her soaked dress tightly. Her eyes closed and her body fell against Eren, too weak to hold herself up anymore. 

“I’m so glad.” The brunet’s voice was barely above a whisper, his hand tenderly pushing back the hair which stuck to Levia’s face thanks to the water before using both arms to embrace his fiancée, kissing her head and sighing. “I’m here, don’t worry. I’ll always be here for you...” 

With her head resting against his chest, Levia could feel how fast his heart was racing, could feel his arms holding her tighter than they usually did, could hear the small tremble in his voice. “Eren...” It wasn’t often that Levia actually called him by his name but she felt like it was better this way after what just happened. Her smaller arms wrapped around his chest as she hugged him and kept her eyes closed to calm down better. “...I’m sorry, I should’ve been more cautious..”

“Shh...” His grip tightened a little before one of his hands reached out for something Levia couldn’t see yet. But she felt it a moment later when Eren draped something over her. “It’s not your fault, it’s okay. I’m just.. glad you’re not hurt.” He didn’t even sound mad which Levia was glad for, now she felt a little better about it and was glad too. 

She finally opened her eyes and looked at herself where she saw Eren’s jacket, which he wore a few minutes ago, wrapped around herself. As her gaze then shifted up to Eren himself, she only then realized he was completely shirtless and she was leaning on his bare chest. He must’ve taken his jacket and shirt off before he came to her rescue. She was a bit embarrassed now with the way they sat there, but not even that was bothering her enough to let go of him. In that moment, Levia wanted to be close to Eren as much as she could and just hold him. 

If Eren wouldn’t have been there, there was no doubt the ocean would’ve swallowed her whole. 

The two sat like that for a long while, letting everything sink down so they could be calm and enjoy the rest of the day. “You should change your clothes, I wouldn’t want you to catch a cold by tomorrow.” The girl broke the silence, facing the shaking brunet who just calmly smiled down at her. 

“You’re lucky I brought clothes for us both. It’s just sleepwear but that’s better than staying in these. They’ll dry until tomorrow, I’m sure of it.” He gently rubbed her cheek with his thumb, pressed their foreheads together for a moment before he slowly got up as he helped Levia up as well. He lead her over to the carriage, making sure to keep ahold of her hand the whole time. 

The brunet stepped into the back part of the carriage which could be seen as a smaller room with space for two or three people at most. It was just the two of them, so he didn’t bother to get a larger carriage. After he was up, he lifted the princess and carried her inside to him. She squirmed a bit at being carried, though. She wasn’t used to it and didn’t exactly like it either to begin with. 

“Here, all your things are in this bag. Your mother gave it to me in the morning and said it was everything you’d need.” As Levia looked down at the bag, she nodded lightly and set it down by her feet, then looked up at the taller male in front of her. “But in case you need something else, just let me know.” 

After another silent nod, the prince hopped out of the carriage again with another bag in his hands. “You can change in there. Nobody’s around anyway, so I’ll just do it here.” Before Levia could even complain about his decision and tell him it wasn’t necessary for him to change his clothes outside, the door already closed and she was left huffing to herself. “Brat...”

“Whatever.” If Eren wanted to change outside so badly, she wasn’t going to beg him to do it otherwise- he was old enough to make his own decisions. The girl opened the bag and got out the clothes as well as a towel which were in there and placed them neatly on the bench next to her. She then began undressing, getting rid of all the wet clothes she was wearing. Everything was drenched, so she had to take everything off, dry herself, and get dressed into a whole new set of clothing. After being dressed, she used the towel to dry her hair, staring off at nothing in particular. 

She mentally thanked her mother for choosing a dark gown with long sleeves. These were her favorite ones, since they practically hid everything that needed to be hidden and accentuated smaller places like her chest and waist. Not to mention how comfortable they were, the fabric was soft and a little stretchable which was just perfect. She obviously had no breasts but she also saw normal girls her age not having much up there, and other than that she could always just stuff things inside to make her chest appear at least a little bigger like she did on her engagement. Also, Eren didn’t seem to be much bothered by that fact. Then again, he didn’t know the truth yet either. 

“I’m done. I’m coming out now.” Levia waited for a moment longer before slowly opening the door and peeking out to see Eren already standing there with new clothes. She exhaled softly, then hopped out of the carriage with the wet clothes in her hand. 

“Look, there are rocks over there.” The boy pointed over at said rocks before holding his arms out for her clothes, “I’ll take care of them. Just-“

Not paying much mind to him, the princess walked over to where Eren pointed to and began laying her clothes there so they could dry in the sun. Eren’s clothes laid there too but they were wrinkled, she could tell he simply threw them onto the rock. “Tch.” She frowned and took care of his clothes as well, shaking them out and placing them neatly on the stone again. If there was one thing she hated the most, it was people walking around in dirty or wrinkled clothes. It looked just disgusting in her eyes. When she was content with her work, Levia nodded to herself and walked back to where Eren was who greeted her with a smile. 

“Are you hungry?” The brunet asked, stepping closer to wipe away some remains of her makeup with his sleeve. She didn’t bother to redo it since they were alone and she doubted anyone would come to a place so far away from any civilization. She felt comfortable enough to walk around like that with Eren around. Her bangs were covering half of her face anyway so that was even better. “It’s already afternoon and we didn’t eat since breakfast.”

Giving a small nod, Levia spoke, “Sure. What did you get?” She asked while moving her hair over one shoulder and braiding it loosely so it wouldn’t be in her way. 

“Hm? I didn’t get anything.” He stated with a shrug while he ran a hand through his long, damp hair. 

Silence. The princess said nothing, her eyes narrowed in suspicion at the male in front of her. Why would he ask her if she wanted to eat if there was nothing they could eat? Sometimes she really didn’t understand how Eren’s head worked. 

“Alright.” She uttered eventually, deciding to just leave it be at this point and not torture herself with trying to find out. It wasn’t like she was starving anyway, she would survive a day without food. 

While Eren got into the carriage for whatever reason, Levia approached the horses and reached a hand out for them before gently stroking one of the horses heads. The dark furred animal neighed in response and leaned into the new touches, softly huffing every once in a while. 

“Aren’t you going to ask me why I haven’t gotten anything with me?” The brunet called out which Levia could only roll her eyes at. 

“No,” She answered simply. 

Eren exhaled at that and complained loudly, “Come on! Don’t be like that!”

The ravenette sighed with more than a hint of annoyance, then spoke in the most unsarcastic voice she could manage: “Why didn’t you get anything, brat?”

“I’m glad you ask!” The youth chirped and suddenly stood behind the princess while holding something in his hand. When she looked over to see what it was, she already understood. “We’re going fishing! I haven’t been fishing in so long!”

While Eren was so eager and excited to catch some fish, Levia looked rather unamazed as her eyes traveled from Eren’s hand to his face and back. She saw nothing extremely amazing with catching fish, unlike Eren, so she didn’t understand his excitement. “You can go fishing. I’m definitely not going to touch anything fish-related.”

The youth raised a brow, “Why that? It’s just a fish, it won’t eat you.” As ironic as it sounded, it was true. The fish obviously wouldn’t eat her but Levia had a completely different problem. 

“They’re slimy and disgusting. I’ve got no gloves with me, so you can go and have fun with them by yourself.” She shrugged indifferently before turning back to the horse and petting its head gently. 

“Aw, if my princess doesn’t want to touch the bad, slimy fishies, there’s no other way but for me, your handsome husband, to go and get our dinner!” The prince exclaimed overly dramatic while Levia could only roll her eyes. 

“I have no idea what I’d do without you.” She mumbled sarcastically and brushed the horse’s hair back while Eren was fetching some more things from the carriage and soon came over to press a kiss on her cheek. 

The ravenette growled but before she could do anything, Eren was already hurrying over to the water with two buckets in his hand. He placed them on the ground and when she saw what he just pulled out, she cringed hard. Eren was using worms. Living, glibbery worms. With his bare hands. How could he even touch these like that? Just take them out of the bucket, fasten them on the fishing rod and throw them into the ocean the next moment. She would never do that, it was way too disgusting. 

Just watching it happening already gave her goosebumps, so she quickly looked away and tried to distract herself by walking around a little. It was the first time for her at the beach, maybe she could find something interesting, or something to give her mother as a gift. Her mother never really mentioned the ocean, so she assumed her mother hasn’t seen it yet either, which definitely was a shame. 

The girl walked along the shore, just close enough so her feet would touch the water. She would like to avoid getting pulled into the water again by not being careful enough. The water came up to her ankles and soaked the sand underneath her feet before drawing back. It repeated itself so many times, she stopped counting and instead just looked around. 

As her eyes wandered around, she caught sight of something in the water. Something glimmering and glittering through the waves, probably stuck in the sand. Levia stood and stared at whatever was in the water, her eyes narrowing slowly. From where she stood, there was no way she could see what it was, and after debating it mentally a few times, she carefully began taking small steps further into the water. 

Just after two steps, she could already hear Eren crying out her name. She turned her head to face him and spoke calmly, “I just want to get something. It’s right here, calm down.” The poor boy looked so frantical and scared and, even if she understood why and appreciated his worry, she felt like a child if she wasn’t allowed to take a few steps into the ocean. 

“I’ll get it for you!” The offer was made quickly and before she knew it, Eren came running over at full speed. 

“I’ll be fine, brat. It’s right-“ As she pointed at the glimmering item, Eren was quick to walk further in, grab the thing and step back to Levia. 

“Here.” He washed off the sand and pressed it into her hand, looking into her eyes. “I know you’re strong, Levia, but please don’t get into the water alone. We can go swimming together later, if you like, but please don’t do it alone.” 

Levia still didn’t understand and opened her mouth to protest. Before she could say anything, though, she was silenced by a kiss and stared at Eren at first before slowly closing her eyes. Even though none of them said anything, it was as if the girl understood what he meant, words weren’t necessary. This single kiss was able to describe things they themselves couldn’t, it made her feel like she should listen to Eren, just this once. 

And so, when they parted, Levia looked down for a second before glancing up at Eren. “...Alright. I’ll stay here.” The expression on Eren’s face immediately relaxed and calmed down as he reached up and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, a smile dancing on his lips. 

“Thank you-“ He suddenly yelped when his leg was kicked and he was pulled down by his shirt. “By the way,” The princess growled, her eyes flashing dangerously, “If you kiss me out of nowhere again, I’ll make sure you really won’t ever have any children. Are we clear?” 

As Eren looked into her eyes, his hand slowly came up and cupped her cheek. “Is that so?” The boy grinned and quickly stole a kiss, then pulled her hand off and stepped back. “We’ll see about that.” The amount of sass in his tone annoyed Levia. Even if she liked his kisses and affection, she didn’t like to be surprised with it this way. If it wouldn’t be surprising, she probably wouldn’t have a problem with it. 

“Tch. Brat.” The princess watched Eren walking back to his fishing equipment and looked down into her hand now. She was still holding the thing she saw in the water in her hand and slowly lifted it to get a better look at it. Eren already washed off the sand, so Levia walked over to sit down on a dry spot and crossed her legs. She examined the item in her hand, turning and shaking it. 

It was the first time for her to see something like that specifically, but it remembered her a lot of a pocket watch. While shaking it, she heard a small rustle so there had to be something inside. She just had no idea how to open it, not to mention that this watch looked really old and rusty. When she turned it around to look at the back more precisely, her eyes widened ever so slightly. 

There was an engraving, small but big enough for Levia to recognize. She used her sleeve in attempts to clean it off, not caring about the dirt in that moment, and stared down at the single word that stood there. It wasn’t like Levia could read, all she knew were barely a handful of words, she looked into books and tried to understand them by their pictures, which worked pretty well this far. 

As a girl, it was pointless to learn how to read and write. The men would learn because they would reign the country while women had other things to take care of. Reading wasn’t one of these, so Levia never learned it and focused on manners and behavior. 

Levia stared down at the watch for a while before glancing over at Eren who just caught a fish and cheered to himself. Biting her lip in thought, she eventually decided to stand up and walk over to where Eren was. 

“Look how big this one is!” The boy exclaimed proudly while holding the fish up and smiled brightly. Though, Levia just gave a small nod in response and stopped in front of him, clenching her fist. 

“Huh?” Eren dumped the fish into the bucket and quickly faced Levia again. She looked uncomfortable, maybe a little mad, and Eren wanted to know why. “What’s wrong? Did you hurt yourself or something?” He was about to check her arms for any injuries but Levia raised her hand and opened it, revealing the watch she found. 

“Read.” She ordered lowly, furrowing her brows. It could be that Levia read it wrong or mistook the word for something else. 

Eren squinted a little and leaned closer to see better. It was hard to read with how old it seemed to be but Eren tried his best. “Ack... er.. man. Ackerman. Yeah, that’s- wait...”

The princess stare down at her hand with mixed feelings. Ackerman was her family’s name and she had no idea what to expect this to be. What could be inside? Was it something important? Or maybe it was nothing. One thing was sure: Levia had to know. 

Without losing another word, she turned around and walked over to their carriage and shuffled through some things. “What are you looking for? Hey- be careful, yeah?” Eren spoke worriedly, looking at her when she came out with a knife. “Calm down... We’ll find out what it is.” He spoke slowly. 

Levia couldn’t but roll her eyes and hopped off the carriage, sitting down in the sand again. She used the knife to try and open the watch somehow. Poking and stabbing and pushing wasn’t helping in any way and Levia was getting impatient. She sighed with exhaustion and dropped the knife after a while, glaring down at the watch as if that’d help. 

Once she seemed less aggressive, Eren sat down next to her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Take a breath, it’s alright. Can I give it a try?” He asked politely. 

Levia stared up at him and gave him a short nod in response. Eren then took the watch and tilted it a bit. He hummed and took the knife, using only the tip to push into a small gap. There was a small ‘click’ sound and part of the watch opened like a drawer. As Eren opened it further to reveal what was inside, Levia kept watching his hands closely so she would keep track of what happened. 

The boy pulled out a piece of paper that was folded several times to the size to almost fit a palm and, surprisingly, wasn’t wet. It didn't get in touch with the water, probably from how the watch was built to be waterproof. He held it out for Levia and smiled, “Here, you should open it.”

The ravenette stared at the paper before taking it from Eren. She hesitated just a moment before sighing and slowly unfolding it. Something fell out of it and landed on the sand. Levia picked it up and looked at what turned out to be a picture taken almost sixteen years ago. Where she knew that from?

It was a picture of her parents which were holding something in their arms. It soon was clear that it was her who they were holding. “...Everyone told me father died before I was born.” She stated calmly, though, also confusedly. There was no reason to lie about that, was there? She just didn’t understand anything. 

“I’m sure there’s a reason behind that.” Eren assured her and loosely wrapped an arm around her shoulders, rubbing her arm. That was the story he was told too, he didn’t see why it would make sense to lie unless someone was trying to hide something. “What’s the other thing? A letter?” 

The girl carefully placed the picture on her lap and held the piece of paper with both hands. “Seems like it. Probably ripped out of a book or something,” She thought out loud and closed her eyes, breathing in and out deeply. “Can you read it for me?”

“Of course.” The brunet smiled and squeezed her before taking the paper from her and holding it up so he could read it. The ink faded a bit, so it was a little hard to read it. 

“‘28th December. Kuchel gave birth to our child a few days ago. The sight of them is truly one to cherish, I love them so much.’ See? Everything’s okay.” Eren commented and paused his reading to look down at his princess. 

“Can you please just read the letter?” She said, leaning her head against his shoulder. Levia wasn’t in the mood for any jokes in that moment. Eren seemed to understand because he just continued reading:

“‘But as much as I love them, I also feel ashamed.’” Eren paused, his expression turning into one of confusion, “‘I never should’ve promised Grisha’s son my daughter because I never had one... I acted in a-‘“ 

Levia quickly snatched the paper back and cleared her throats, “That’s enough. I’ll read the rest when I’m back home.” There was no way she could reveal it just yet, not when they weren’t married and not when she still could enjoy some more time with him. The later he knew, the more she could be with him and have fun together, feel loved. If he found out now, she had no idea what to do. Maybe it was selfish but she really liked Eren and didn’t want to destroy it. 

“You’re not. We’re reading it now.” Eren argued, frowning at her, “What does it mean he never had a daughter? Did your mother have an affair-“

He barely finished the sentence and Levia already smacked him hard across his face, “Don’t you even dare! My mother would never do something like this!” She practically shouted because of how angry this made her. How could Eren even say such a thing?!

It took Eren a lot of self control to not lash out and hit Levia back, but he understood his fault and let out a long breath. “You’re right, I’m sorry.” He apologized sincerely and watched as Levia stood up and folded the paper again. 

“I’ll read the letter when we’re home again. You can go back fishing or whatever.” 

“No.” Eren stated firmly, “You’re going to show me the letter now. What are you hiding?” He questioned as Levia stared blankly at him. 

“Nothing.” 

“Why won’t you let me read it then?” He snapped. 

“That’s called privacy.”

Eren frowned only deeper and took a few steps closer, glaring down at the girl. “If you don’t let me read the letter or tell me what is going on, I’ll leave and I swear to God you will never see me again.” 

Levia hasn’t seen Eren this serious before. All these days, he was the goofy and funny guy, but now he looked so dead serious and the last thing Levia wanted was to let Eren leave in anger and not knowing what was going on. She glanced down at paper in thought before looking away and holding it out for Eren. 

“If you hate me now, I understand, but.. don’t leave your family.” If Eren left because of her, she could never forgive herself. His parents were really kind, they didn’t deserve this misery only because of her. 

Eren stared wordlessly and took the letter from her as soon as she held it out. He unfolded the paper and continued reading where he left off. 

“‘...I acted in a hurry and didn’t think it through well enough. Kuchel gave birth to a healthy child, a son.’” Eren stopped to swallow the lump in his throats and glanced at Levia for a moment before continuing, “‘The kings and queens before us always gave birth to girls, it’s in their genetics, I thought it would continue but I couldn’t know I was wrong. So wrong. I was so sure of it that I promised Grisha’s oldest son a bride and now I can’t undo it. I feel so ashamed. Tomorrow, I will drown him in the sea... and it’ll be like he never was born. Having a dead child is better than having a son I never wanted or needed... I can’t take this disgrace or else I will lose my rank. Everyone will look down at me, I won’t let this happen. This boy is a spawn of the devil.. and I’ll send him back to the place he belongs to...’” His voice lowered near the end, seemingly too overwhelmed with the very letter he just read. 

Silence fell over them. Uncomfortable, tense, cramped. It took long minutes until Levia actually spoke up. “I’ll leave you alone. You can go back to Shiganshina, I’ll tell my mother to cancel the wedding.” She reached for the paper and folded it together with the small picture and kept it in her hand. 

For the first time ever, Levia felt like crying. Her father’s words were rough, harsh, cold, filled with hatred because of something she wasn’t in control of. It hurt her to find out that was the way her father saw her. True, Levia herself wasn’t the kindest person either, but not even she could say such things. That too about his own flesh and blood. Sometimes, she secretly hoped she was making her father proud because it was the way her mother raised her. She was raised to love the person who hated her the most. It hurt, it really did. She had so many questions, she was so confused, so overwhelmed, but Eren wasn’t the right person for that. She needed her mother. 

“Now hold your breath for a minute.” Eren scratched his head, “Let me just get this right. You’re a boy- like, a real boy... And you act and look like a girl because...?”

Levia glanced up at him, her eyes filled with pain and sorrow. They gleamed ever so lightly, daring to form tears even though she was suppressing it so hard, “Because I didn’t want my father to break his promise, even if he’s already dead... I planned to tell you after we would’ve been married and let you decide what you wanted to do with me. I didn’t want my mother to have problems because of me, people would think of her the wrong way.” She explained, giving a half hearted shrug. 

“Do you even have any idea what you’re doing?! That’s high treason, you could get into prison for this!” Eren scolded, grabbing Levia by her shoulders and shaking her, as if that would force some sense back into her. 

The princess just stared up at Eren, looking more or less indifferent. Prison was the last thing she was worried about. “I don’t care. I’m just asking you for one thing.. please don’t pull my mother into this. Please. She has nothing to do with this. It was my decision, just let her be. Eren, I’ll do anything you want. I beg you...” Levia never begged in her life and never would even if it came to her own life, but now that her mother’s life was at danger, she was ready to do anything. 

The brunet just shook his head lightly, muttering something under his breath that Levia didn’t quite understand. She noticed that Eren was still holding onto her shoulders while he spoke to himself and reached up to lift his hands off of her. “I’m sorry you found out this way.” She ruined the day. Thinking back, it started so well. They were happy, enjoying the beautiful day. Now it all dropped and sat heavily in her poor chest. The look of disappointment and confusion on Eren’s face when he found out as well as the words her father wrote. It was just so much at once and having to hold it all back was making things even worse. “You don’t need to worry about anything, I’ll talk with my mother and your parents and tell them to cancel the wedding. I’ll come up with something. We just need to go ba-“

“Shh!” He shushed harshly, stopping her from saying much else while he took ahold of her wrists to stop her from pulling his hands away. “‘I will, I will, I will.’ If you really think I’d go and tell others, you don’t know me the slightest! Now give me a minute to think. One minute. Okay?” 

At first, Levia stared up at him before very lightly nodding her head. Eren closed his eyes and exhaled deeply and from that moment on, it was dead silent. In that short time of silence, Eren didn’t let go of her wrists and securely held them up while they stood. His face was full of confusion but over all this time, Levia never saw hate in his eyes. Anger, yes, disappointment, sadness, but not even once hatred. She wasn’t sure why but the fact that she wasn’t being hated by Eren- at least not yet- was a small comfort in the huge sea of trouble she got herself in. 

As the time passed, Levia said nothing, just watched Eren’s troubled face, and let him take as much time as he needed, even after it already got more than a minute. It was good, the silence also gave her the chance to calm down and gather her own thoughts. 

“Did you mean what you said and did?” Eren broke the silence with his question which came out harsher than he had intended. “I mean yesterday. I heard you talking to your mother in your room and saying you liked me.. Then you came to the stables and kissed me... Was that true? Did you mean it or did you just do it to be a more believable couple?”

The princess couldn’t really see where Eren was going with this but she wanted him to know the truth and the truth only. The full truth, no exceptions. And for Eren’s question, Levia didn’t need to think about it for too long and was quick to answer. Her voice stayed calm and quiet, collected, “I meant it. I wouldn’t let you kiss me if I didn’t want it.”

Now that she actually said this, the princess was aware of another thing; Eren was male, she was male. She just admitted she felt attracted to a guy and therefore was homosexual. Eren was charming and sweet, not to mention good looking. If she could choose between him and everyone else she ever saw, Eren would be her first and only choice. She liked him and was sure she could love him one day and live a pretty decent and happy life with him by her side. But all that didn’t change the fact that- if they did marry- it’d make them both homosexual and once the people found out, they would be hunt down and only God knew what would happen to them. 

Maybe saying that to Eren just now made him uncomfortable and awkward and weirded out. A guy who was playing princess and was interested in the prince from next door? That couldn’t work well in any way, not at all. 

“...Listen,” Levia spoke again when Eren seemed too much in thought, lowering her gaze to the ground, “You can just go and find another princess to marry. Forget everything I did and said. You deserve someone better. My father is right, I’m-“

The princess was cut off by Eren lifting her face and pressing his lips against her own, causing her eyes to widen in disbelief. Her breath hitched and stuck in her throats, her whole body feeling so weak suddenly. She had no idea why Eren was doing that even after finding out the truth- why wasn’t he pushing her back? Why wasn’t he disgusted? Why wasn’t he yelling or hitting her or saying he regretted all this? 

How could Eren be kissing her? He just found out her true gender, yet there he was, holding her securely and kissing her with as much tenderness as he did the very first time. Levia was so confused but, most of all, overwhelmed with emotions. Her father’s letter was the main cause of that, though, she could’ve forced it back until they were back home, but now that Eren reacted in a way she never would’ve seen coming, Levia gave herself up to her feelings for the first time in her sixteen years. 

The girl’s eyes overflowed with tears, her legs too weak to hold her up any moment longer. Levia sank to the ground slowly, trembling, and folded her hands over her face as she curled up as small as she could make herself. Once on the floor, she began wailing and sobbing like a child, hurt and broken and sad. Destroyed, in a matter of minutes and seconds. 

She was still just a child, after all. 

While Levia was on the ground, Eren soon knelt down next to her, the strong boy scooping her into his lap and wrapping himself around her like a protective blanket. “You can cry,” He whispered softly, kissing the side of her head, “I’m here. I’m right here, I promise I am.” The boy cupped her head with one hand, pressing her against his chest, the other one wrapped around her waist to keep her in place and hug the crying girl close and tight. 

This was the most emotional and, at the same moment, the weakest Levia had ever been. She was so ashamed of herself for being in that state but she couldn’t do much about it with no control over herself and had to let Eren comfort her- she needed this, needed him by her side. He gave her something to hold onto so she wouldn’t fall deeper into the pit of despair misery than she already did. 

The brunet rocked the princess back and forth, shushing her ever so softly with small kisses and gentle words. His hands patted her with each move in attempts to comfort the girl. “I’m here,” He squeezed her assuringly, “What your father wrote isn’t true. You’re the best that ever happened to me, I’m so glad. You’re my grumpy, sweet, little princess.” He cooed his words as the princess clung onto his shirt and sniffled into his chest, her eyes still shut tightly. 

Having Eren and hugging him close, to just have someone she could hold like that without having to say much felt so good. It almost, just almost was as if her mother was by her side. She could feel the same warmth and comfort and, above of all, acceptance. The princess was breaking apart but she had Eren to hold her together and comfort her. This boy was special without a doubt, Levia felt it in the beginning but now this feeling was stronger than ever.

The brunet tucked Levia’s head under his chin, his skin getting damp thanks to the girl’s hair but he didn’t seem to care much about it and kept whispering small nothings to his fiancée, “You’re so amazing...” 

The princess turned her head so she could press her face into his neck and sobbed as quietly as she could, “H-he... He hates m-me... never w-wanted me.. spawn... of the de..devil...” She used to look up at her father all the time. He was her role model because she only ever heard good things about him- especially from her mother. She loved and respected him as much as her mother, and now her world fell apart. 

“Shh... All that isn’t true, I promise.” The prince cooed softly, fearing that speaking any louder might break the fragile girl in his arms only more. “You’re an angel- my angel. And I love you just the way you are. Remember? ‘I like your face as well as your self’, nothing changed and nothing will ever change.” He finally pulled back enough to face her and cupped her face with one hand, using his thumb to wipe away her tears. 

“Girl or boy or both, I don’t care. I honestly don’t. It’s you I fell in love with, not your gender. You’re a beautiful person in every way you can imagine.” He spoke with sincerity, his voice holding nothing but honesty and seriousness, and a lot of affection and passion. “That you’re so beautiful is just the cherry on top,” He added with a playful wink which made Levia crack a little smile and look away from him, finally stopping her tears. It was Eren, after all. Silly and goofy Eren... her Eren. 

“Awe, don’t look away. Show me that little dimple you’ve got. I know it’s there.” He poked her left cheek gently and chuckled before poking her right one, “Upps, no, it’s here! C’mon, we almost got it. Smiiile!” Eren poked her cheek a few more times before Levia shoved his hand away playfully and eyed him from the corner of her eyes. 

“You’re such a brat.” Her voice was still a little hoarse and weak but, all in all, Levia was looking much better again and was even smiling for Eren, and Eren only. The brat was right, she had a dimple on her right cheek but she never noticed before. The only person she smiled with was her mother and she never mentioned it. 

“There it is!” The brunet exclaimed joyfully, his own smile big and bright, “See? Right here! I know I’ve already told you, but you look so much better when you smile.” Levia just rolled her eyes at his comment and nodded in acknowledgment, brushing some loose hair out of her face. 

Eren wanted to use this opportunity for a kiss, his lips gaping when Levia stopped him by pressing her hands against his chest. “What did I tell you about kissing me out of nowhere?” The smile on her face faded and was replaced by a stoic and stern expression, her brows knitted together. 

“I-... forgot..” He mumbled sadly, turning his head to look away from her, “I’m sorry...” 

The princess clicked her tongue and grabbed Eren’s face with both hands, forcing him to look at her. The corner of her lips twitched up into a smirk for just a second, long enough to be noticed by Eren and make the boy smile brightly again. His hand quickly came up to cup the back of Levia’s neck and pull her closer for a deep and passionate kiss which the princess returned gladly, her arms moving to wrap around his neck to keep him close at all costs. 

While Eren’s free hand caressed the girl’s waist, his tongue swiftly swiped over Levia’s bottom lip. She gasped softly at the new sensation and, after a moment of thinking, she parted her lips and granted Eren permission to enter her mouth with his tongue. The feeling was so confusing to her- why was Eren using his tongue in her mouth? And why didn’t she pull away yet? They were technically exchanging saliva and she usually should’ve been disgusted by something like that. Instead, Levia tried to copy his movements, a moan slipping, and tilted her head lightly. The sensation made her forget the circumstances and the fact that this was Eren made her forget any kind of discomfort she might have. 

They parted after some while, leaving Levia panting for air. It was hard to kiss him like that and hold her breath, she didn’t understand how Eren was calm as ever. “That’s how people kiss in France. I saw many of them doing it and wanted to try it out myself.” He explained with a chuckle, his thumb brushing against her skin.

“I see.” The girl shuffled closer and rested her head on his shoulder, caressing his chest gently. “Thank you...” She added a little quieter. 

“Hm? Oh, it’s no big deal. The thing about this kiss is just that the tongues touch and create a pa- Ow!” He flinched when Levia hit his chest and looked down to see her glaring at him. 

“That’s not what I meant, brat.”

“I know,” He chuckled and pecked her forehead, “But you don’t need to thank me for anything, I’ll always be there for you. That’s a promise.” 

Levia seemed content enough with his answer and looked back at the sea again, watching as the sun began setting. The view was astonishing and Levia was so glad she could see this with Eren by her side. It would’ve stayed like that, wouldn’t there have been her stomach growling for food louder than she expected. 

She stared down at herself first, then looked up at Eren who just laughed in return. “I managed to catch a few fish before, let’s eat, shall we?” He suggested, patting her back encouragingly as the two of them got up and Eren brushed off the sand that stuck to their clothes. 

“I’ll show you how to prepare a fish and how to make a fire! C’mon!” The prince grabbed the girl’s hand and laughed as he dragged her over to where the bucket was still standing from earlier, when Eren was fishing. There were only three fish inside; it had to be enough until tomorrow. Fishing at night wasn’t very smart, less so when they had no kind of lights. 

“We’re lucky I brought wood with us for the fire. I’m too lazy to go and search for some now.” Eren snorted while carrying the bucket over to the spot they would make the fire at and set it down. The boy got to the carriage and got out the wood for their fire as well as a knife to cut the fish with. 

During the next hour or so, Eren cleaned the fish, because it was too gross for Levia to do without any gloves, and they both managed to light up a fire with the wood they had. Lighting it up took longer than expected but eventually it was all ready and they were both sitting at the fire which warmed them up in the chilly evening. The fish was already cut and put on smaller branches in the fire to grill them. 

The two were sitting together, Eren behind Levia with the girl between his legs on the sand. She felt so warm with Eren behind her, the blanket around them and the fire in front of them. The princess watched the wood burning contently. It all was so peaceful and calm, she loved it. 

“Oi.” She nudged Eren lightly with her elbow, “Is the fish done? I think it’s about to burn.” She asked, looking up only to see Eren with his eyes closed. She honestly didn’t understand how he could sleep while sitting but wasn’t really bothered by that either. It rather was cute; he was still hugging her and his face was close to her as if he didn’t want to let go even while sleeping. 

But Eren didn’t eat since breakfast and Levia couldn’t let him sleep like that, so she nudged him a little harder. “Brat. Wake up and eat, then go to sleep again, I don’t care.” She shook him a little until Eren yawned and rubbed his eyes tiredly, finally opening them with a confused “huh?”

“Eat.” She ordered, reaching for one of the branches and handing it to Eren who now suddenly was wide awake. He took it from her and before she could get her own, Eren cleared his throats and held out a piece of the fish for Levia near her mouth. “Let me feed you so your hands won’t get dirty.” It wasn’t really because of her hands, rather because Eren wanted to, she could tell. But Levia was fine with that and opened her mouth to eat the offered food, then leaned back against his chest. 

“...Eren. We’ve got a problem.” She thought out loud and sighed. 

“What’s wrong? Doesn’t it taste good? I did get food with us but I thought fishing our own was more fun, so if you want something else-“

“No, that’s not it- wait, you got food?”

Eren just laughed nervously and shoved some more fish into her mouth. The girl rolled her eyes and ate it before she continued,

“I mean.. if we get married and all. We can’t have any children together... I thought to just tell the people I can’t have any children, there are many girls who can’t.”

“So?” He asked, nibbling on some fish. Levia faced him then, her voice serious,

“You’ll have to marry someone else and have a child, then, if you still want it, we can marry. Your child would be the successor to the throne. That’s the only-“

“No.” He interrupted her, brows furrowed which showed he didn’t like her idea at all. “I won’t marry someone else and most certainly won’t have a child with someone else. If we can’t have a child, I’m fine with it.”

“We need a successor, Eren. If we don’t, people will cause trouble about who will reign after us.” She reminded calmly. 

“Then we adopt a child. I won’t marry anyone but you. This is not up for discussion.” 

Levia sighed and looked down in thought, turning her head away slightly when Eren tried to feed her again. 

“This isn’t something for us to worry about now anyway, my love. We can think about it later on, alright?” He kissed her cheek, “We will figure out a way, there’s still plenty of time. I promise you. Now, please eat?” He offered her the food again and after some hesitation, Levia eventually ate it and just leaned back against Eren’s chest again. 

He was right; they were both still young and could think about it on some other day. They had a few years, that should be enough. For now, Levia just wanted to enjoy Eren’s company with no worries bothering her. 

The couple sat comfortably at the fire, eating the fish while staying cuddled up to each other. Sometimes, Eren made stupid comments about things or just said something that made no sense, but Levia liked it, liked hearing him talk and rant about all kind of things. 

As the time passed, the princess got more and more tired and dared to fall asleep just like that. The atmosphere was so wonderful, it lulled the ravenette into a comfortable and peaceful sleep. 

In the morning, Levia found herself laying on Eren’s chest with said boy’s arms wrapped around her. Her gray eyes gleamed in the morning sun, looking around themselves. They were sleeping on the sand with just a blanket around the two of them to keep them warm. The fire was only burning low, probably so they wouldn’t burn themselves while sleeping. Seemed like Eren took care of everything while Levia slept. 

The princess looked up at Eren’s face then, her hand coming up to touch his cheek lightly. She caressed his skin with the back of her fingers, watching his sleeping face quietly before pressing a light kiss on his lips. Afterwards, Levia just rested her head on his chest again and listened to Eren’s heartbeat, closing her eyes, relaxing. 

Suddenly, her eyes shot wide open and Levia immediately sat up. “Oi!” She shouted and began shaking Eren by his shoulders, “Wake up! Brat! Wake up already!”

Poor Eren groaned tiredly and furrowed his brows, “I’m awake! I’m awake!” He shouted back and slowly sat up, rubbing his hair as he faced the princess, “What is it? What’s all this shouting in the morning for?” 

“We need to go back, you idiot! Unless you don’t want to get married, that is.” She folded her arms over her chest. 

“Oh!” The brunet remembered and cupped Levia’s face to press many kisses on her lips. “We’re gonna get married today!” He spoke between his kisses and smiled brightly. 

“Oi!” She tried to stop him from kissing her and just placed her hands on his mouth when she noticed creating distance wasn’t stopping him, “Less kissing, more moving!” She ordered and managed to get free, so she stood up and brushed off her clothes- sleeping on sand wasn’t the best idea, after all. 

However, Levia moved quickly to go and grab their clothes from the rock where they were drying from the day before. They were still a little damp, so they couldn’t put them on. Levia just folded them and carried them over to the carriage to shove them back into the bags and placed these somewhere inside. 

If they came late, it meant they had less time to prepare themselves for the wedding and Levia didn’t want that to happen, not on such an important day. She didn’t want to disappoint her mother, so she hurried as much as she could. 

As she placed everything into the carriage, Levia caught a glimpse of her father’s pocket watch in the sand and picked it up. The letter wasn’t there anymore and it probably was Eren who took care of it, so Levia didn’t pay much mind to that. She glanced up at the sea where wave after wave splashed onto the shore. 

She had to get rid of this watch and everything that had something to do with her father. He didn’t want her? Wished she was dead? Thought of her to be spawn of the devil? Fine. She didn’t want to have anything to do with him either. He wasn’t there and just left them, so she didn’t need him either. 

The girl approached the water and stopped right in front of it, clenching the watch in her hand. She reached out and soon threw it as far into the water as even possible. This stupid watch could stay where it came from. “Bastard..” She muttered under her breath and inhaled deeply. It was the right decision, she felt it. 

When she came back over to Eren, she saw him holding out a piece of paper for her and already knew what it was. Levia took the letter wordlessly and turned over to their fireplace, her frown deeper than ever. She threw the paper right into the fire and watched it burning down, clenching her teeth. 

“I hate you too...” She said, mainly to convince herself of it. She learned to love him for no reason, now that she read this cursed letter, she had more than reason enough to hate him. 

If there was one thing she regretted, it was crying over her father’s words. She never knew him, never saw him, yet that man had so much power over her to make her cry with just a few words. She hated it and would make sure this never happened again. He wasn’t worth her tears, not in any damned way. Levia would be stronger now, she won’t let him hurt her again. 

Once there were only ashes left of that paper, the princess turned around to face Eren, “We can go now.” And with that, Levia stepped onto the carriage and waited for Eren to come as well, her arms folded onto her chest. 

The prince got onto the carriage a few moments later and grabbed the reins of the horses. But before they got on her way, he kissed Levia’s cheek and scooted closer to her, “Hey, you know what?”

Levia glanced up at him, “What?”

“I love you.” He grinned cockily and quickly stole a kiss. Before Levia could even react, the carriage already started moving and she faced forward again. Her frown wasn’t as deep anymore but she still looked pissed. 

Though, with time, her expression slowly relaxed and returned to her natural one. The less she thought about it, the less it bothered her and the more she could focus on something that made her happy like seeing her mother again and getting married to that brat. Yeah, it really turned out to be something that made her happy. 

During the last twenty minutes or so of the ride, the princess hugged Eren’s arm and leaned against him, calm and collected now. Eren seemed to like this because he kissed her head and kept the closeness to her until they reached the front of the gates of the castle and only stopped there. 

“It’s still early, I think it’ll be fine.” Eren said assuringly which Levia nodded at. 

The princess sat up properly and looked up, getting confused when she saw another carriage standing there. “Are these your people?” She questioned. 

But the prince shook his head and looked down at her, “I was about to ask you the same... I’ve never seen this flag before.”

Levia frowned at that and got down from the carriage, walking to the back to pull out Eren’s coat and put it over herself since she couldn’t just walk in with only her nightgown on. It also was unusual how nobody was outside to greet and walk them in.. she felt weird, suspicious. 

Something was off. 

“Follow me.” She uttered shortly and made her way into the castle. At first, she couldn’t hear anything, but as she further walked inside, there soon were small chatters somewhere. The princess followed these noises and found herself standing in front of the big mess hall. Usually, she wasn’t allowed to enter without her mother or without permission, but Levia honestly didn’t care, she had to find out what was going on. 

Eren tried to stop her but the princess just swung the doors open and stared into the room. There were five people sitting at the long table: her mother, Eren’s parents, a strange woman with short, blonde hair, and another strange guy with glasses and a beard. Judging by his hair and the place he was sitting at, he probably was that lady’s son. 

“Levia, sweetheart, I had no idea you were already back.” Her mother said while standing up and walking over to the couple. “Look at you, walking around in your nightgown. Come on, let’s get you changed..”

Kuchel gently took the girl’s hand but Levia just pulled it back and stared up at her. “What’s going on here? Who are these people?” She only whispered but it was enough to tell she wasn’t happy about anything. 

Eren’s mother looked so angry; Levia never had seen her frowning like that, she only ever was smiling. If looks could kill, that blonde woman should be long dead. 

“I’ll explain it to you in your room.” Her mother murmured, then looked at Eren, “You stay here with your parents. We’ll be-“

“Eren’s staying with me, whatever it is.” Levia interrupted quickly and it was the first time she ever did that, ever talked back. Her mother was visibly shocked but didn’t mention it just yet. “Whatever you want to tell me, he can hear it too.” Eren already knew her only secret and she didn’t want to start this marriage with more secrets. 

“Let them both stay here.” Levia heard Carla speaking from the other side of the room and eyed her. “We need to discuss this together.”

“Not that there’s much to discuss, anyway.” The blond guy added, making Levia glare deeply. She didn’t like him at all. He had an aura that just felt weird. Strange. 

The princess looked back up at her mother who looked really stressed out and reached out to hold her hand to comfort her. “It’s okay..” She spoke assuringly and lead her mother back to the table. Levia sat right next to her while Eren sat next to his mother but still close enough to the princess. They could hold hands but of course didn’t, especially not in such a tense situation. 

“So?” Eren broke the silence, looking around at everyone who was sitting there. “Who are these people and why are we sitting here instead of preparing our wedding?” 

Grisha scratched the back of his neck and hesitantly spoke up, “Well, Eren... This is Zeke.”

There was a long silence after that before his father slowly added, “Your.. older brother.”

Everyone was quiet at that and even Levia had to take a moment to comprehend what was even going on. Eren’s brother? That meant that woman was his mother, which meant Grisha must’ve had an affair...

“Wait, older?” Eren questioned, his frown deepening with each word. “That means...” His gaze moved to his mother who looked just as furious. It was incredible how much they were alike, from their looks as well as their expressions. 

“We were your father’s affair, Eren. All the time he said he was working out of town, he was actually spending time with them.” Carla gave the blonde a nasty glare, it almost looked as if she wanted to attack that woman. 

At that, the prince had to look over at his father with an expression of disappointment but also anger. It was as if he was saying “how could you?!” but the brunet was quiet as a stone. 

“That leads us to the next thing.” The guy, Zeke, spoke and scratched his ear with one finger. Levia could swear he looked like a monkey in that moment. 

Before he could continue, Kuchel took over and looked at her daughter worriedly, “He’s the oldest son, that means...” She pressed her lips together and almost looked as if she would cry any moment. “To create a bond, you’d have to marry him... not Eren...”

Levia sat there in utter silence, watching her mother’s face with an unreadable expression. She didn’t look mad, nor happy, nor sad. Nothing. Her expression was empty for a long while, not a single word or reaction coming from her. 

Eren, on the other hand, slammed his hand against the table and stood up with a dark frown. This was a side of Eren Levia honestly never thought she’d see. He looked so angry, as if he’d kill any moment. “No!” He yelled, “I don’t care if he’s older! She was promised to me! I get to marry her!”

“Now calm down, little brother.” The blond said with a gentle voice although his expression was rather.. emotionless, blank. 

“Don’t call me that!” Eren snapped immediately, slamming his fist onto the table another time. 

“We’re living in Marley, our land is by far bigger than your little town. It’s bigger than Shiganshina and here combined.” Zeke explained, then pointed at a paper that laid in the middle of the table. “I can’t tell you if your father knew or not, Levia, but he wrote about a bond with Grisha Jaeger’s oldest son. Which, in this case, would be me.” 

The princess didn’t look at this Zeke guy and only partly listened to what he said. She was focused on her mother’s eyes; she looked so sad about this, as if it was her who now got into this dilemma. Eren confessed his love to her and now she was supposed to marry someone else who just came out of nowhere? She was on her way of living a happy life with Eren and now it all dared to fall apart. 

Tears gleamed in Kuchel’s eyes, her gaze moving between her daughter and Eren worriedly. Levia couldn’t exactly tell what was going on in her head but she knew one thing for sure: if she didn’t do what her father wrote in his letter, there was no way they could ever live peaceful again. They’d have to leave their own country and what then? Live on the streets? She wouldn’t be a princess anymore, meaning that even if Eren married her then, it’d benefit his country in no way, therefore wouldn’t happen. 

And marriages were there for one simple reason: to enlarge the territory and rule. There was no space for love. It was unnecessary. One didn’t need love to bear a child, it just needed two people. 

Marriage, successor, marriage, successor. Simple as that. 

While the girl was thinking, Eren and Zeke were arguing back and forth. Eren saying Levia belonged to him while Zeke kept pointing out how it was the oldest son who got to marry the princess. Eren being rather loud and violent while Zeke was calm. 

Then, after a couple of minutes, Levia opened her mouth to speak. “Alright,” She murmured, the room falling quiet at that, “I have to fulfill my duty and do what’s best for my country.” 

The brunet stared at her with wide eyes, lips gaped in confusion. 

“I’ll marry you, Zeke.” She stated calmly, then looked down at her hands with a sigh. She only did it for her mother- if she didn’t, she feared her mother would end up on the streets and that was the last thing she wanted. 

“Good that’s suited out now.” The blond stated and Levia really did her best to not look disgusted. This guy was.. so different. She didn’t like his appearance or the way he spoke or anything about him. She wanted Eren, but she had to do what a princess had to do. 

“Wh-what?!” The brunet snapped, staring at the princess with wide eyes, “You can’t be serious, Levia... That’s a joke, right? You wouldn’t do that... right?” 

The princess looked up and her expression said more than enough, it shut him up completely. Carla looked very sad and looked down as well. Silence surrounded them which was in no way comfortable, everything was just so stressful and complicated for the young princess. 

“No!” Eren snapped again and clenched his fists tightly, “No! I won’t let this happen! You belong to me!” It sounded as if he was sobbing, but only when Levia looked up, she saw a tear rolling down his cheek, his expression more angry than sad. “That’s not fair! N-no... If I can’t marry you, nobody will!”

“Eren..” The girl mumbled his name, reaching out to place her hand on top of one of his fists, “It’s alright. Calm down.” She then looked at her mother who looked almost ashamed of herself. Reaching out to place her hand onto her mother’s, Kuchel looked up and met her daughter’s eyes. “Can Eren and I have a minute alone?” 

The queen gave her daughter a squeeze and nodded lightly with a weak smile. “Of course..”

The princess held Eren’s hand properly and stood up so she could lead them both out of the big hall and stand with him somewhere near the door. As soon as they were outside, Eren began speaking with honest worry in his voice, “I don’t want you to marry him. Please, stay with me.. Please, I love you, don’t do this...” 

The ravenette sighed and stepped closer so she could wrap her arms around Eren’s torso and gave him a hug which the brunet immediately returned, holding the princess as if someone would pull her away any moment. “If I don’t do this, mom’s life will be a living hell. She’ll be thrown from the throne and end up on the streets. You have to understand that her life stands over my own...” She’d do anything for her mother- and anything meant anything, no exceptions. 

“But you don’t even know him!”

“I didn’t know you either, remember?” She questioned, moving her hand up to touch his cheek. 

“What if he’s a pervert? He’s just after your land! Stay with me, plea-“

Eren was interrupted by lips being pressed against his own and shut his eyes. His hands grabbed Levia’s face and their hearts took over. They kissed like there was no tomorrow, put so much emotion and feeling into what seemed to be their last kiss. 

Their tongues intertwined, hands entangled in Eren’s soft, silk hair. Their kiss lasted for a long, heated minute until the princess had to pull back to breathe and pressed their foreheads together. Levia’s chest rose and fell heavily as soft pants filled the air. 

“You’re such a brat...” She whispered breathlessly, dropping her head onto his shoulder as she clung onto his shirt. 

The brunet tightened his grip on the small princess, his lips pressing all the way from her head down to her shoulder and back up. “...Is there no way to convince you otherwise?” He asked with hope and despair in his voice, it broke Levia’s heart. 

Shaking her head lightly, the princess whispered a small “no”and closed her eyes tighter, pressing herself closer to him. His hand moved up and stroked the girl’s hair ever so gently, she could even feel the small tremble in his body. 

“I see...” There was a small break before Eren continued, “Just know I love you. So, so much. I could’ve been the happiest man in the world today... Now I have to watch you getting married to some stranger. I still love you and always will.” 

“I love you too...” The princess felt so sad and heartbroken. It was the first time she ever got to love someone, now they were being separated because Eren’s father made a huge mistake years ago. Why did they have to pay the price for his disloyalty? Why couldn’t they just marry and be happy like they were supposed to be from the beginning? It made her so sad, it hurt so bad. 

“I just wish you’d change your mind.” Eren pleaded once more as Levia pulled back and looked up at him. 

“...I can’t. I’m sorry.” She tiptoed to press a last, soft, short kiss onto his lips before slowly backing off and sighing deeply. “Thank you for everything. I’m grateful I’ve got to meet you.” Slowly but surely, she let go of his hand and once they were separated, Eren looked down. 

There wasn’t anything coming from him anymore, everything had been said, so the princess stepped over to open the door to the hall again and walked in, Eren following behind her. She approached his mother and stood next to her chair, dropping a curtsy. “Thank you for everything. You have a wonderful son, I’m sure you’ll find a wonderful bride for him.” Levia wasn’t exactly the person to make compliments or anything but this was Eren and she couldn’t help it. 

Carla didn’t say anything and instead got up to hug the girl tightly and kiss the top of her head. “I’ve found her, and they’re made for each other. It turned out they can’t marry...”

Why did they have to make this harder for Levia than it already was? She wasn’t happy about her decision but it had to be done for her country and her mother. Was it the right decision? She didn’t and couldn’t know. Everyone was sad about it but this was only to help them, so it had to be alright. 

Once Eren’s mother pulled back again, Levia looked down at the ring on her finger and carefully slid it off to place it into Carla’s hand. 

“There’s no need for you to worry about anything.” Zeke spoke while getting up and walking over to the princess, taking her hand. “Once we’re married, you’ll get everything you want and need. Dresses, jewelry, shoes, whatever you desire.” 

The princess was quiet and had to watch how now Zeke’s ring took the place Eren’s ring used to be. His hands were so cold and even if he tried to be gentle, she didn’t like his touch at all. She looked up at him and did her best to not cringe at his beard. Who knew how many germs were hiding in there, how much bacteria and dirt was gathered in there by now? Facial hair was disgusting to her. 

Then he kissed her cheek and it sent chills down her spine, her teeth clenched tightly so she would keep herself under control. She wanted to shove him back and tell him to not touch her but if she did this, it would lead to no good. She caught a glimpse of Eren who was heartbrokenly watching the whole scene and quickly looked away again. She felt so sad. 

“Our wedding will be tomorrow. We don’t need a whole party for our engagement, and the sooner we get married, the sooner I can get back home, with you of course.” 

Levia was about to protest but figured just being quiet was better and walked over to take a seat next to her mother again. She stared down at the ring with disgust while Kuchel rubbed her back gently. 

“I also need to talk to you, alone.” She murmured, looking up at her mother, her expression blunt. Her mother nodded and pulled the princess closer to hug her with one arm in an attempt to comfort her. 

In the meantime, Zeke walked over and threw his arm over Eren’s shoulders, “You’ll come to your big brother’s wedding, won’t you?” 

The brunet shoved the other back and glared at him before his gaze shifted over to Levia and instantly softened. “...I won’t miss Levia’s wedding, that’s for sure.” And with that, Eren turned around to leave the hall, pulling his mother along. 

“Well,” The blond spoke up again and stretched his arms over his head, “I’ll see you later at dinner then, princess.” And just like that, without any more words or actions, Zeke left as well. It gave Levia the feeling that Eren was right: he only was after their land and didn’t care about at least trying to build up some kind of a relationship with her. Not that she really expected that to happen to begin with or even wanted it. The less she had to deal with him, the better.

“Mom?” The princess spoke, looking up at her mother, “Can we go to my room?” 

Kuchel nodded and stood up, holding Levia by her arm as she lead her out. Grisha and Zeke’s mother had left with Zeke, so there was no way to stay there longer than necessary. The two walked upstairs and soon got into the girl’s room, making sure the door was closed behind them. 

Levia sat down onto her bed and crossed her legs as she stared down at her hand, at that cursed ring she wore. 

“Sweetheart, you’ve made a big decision today. You thought about your people before thinking about yourself, just like a real ruler of the kingdom.” Kuchel spoke gently, sitting next to her as she placed a hand on her knee, “You have all my respect.” 

The princess didn’t look up at her mother when she said that and just gave a small nod in response while she fiddled with the jacket she wore. 

“You love Eren and still decided to marry Zeke, that’s real strength.” She paused and scooted a little closer, lifting the girl’s face gently so she would look at her, “But at the same time, it’s really stupid.” 

“As if I don’t know this already.” Levia muttered, “This Zeke guy is weird. Eren is so caring and such a sweet boy... Yes, I love him. And he loves me even after he.. found out the truth.”

That made Kuchel’s eyes widen and she immediately squeezed her daughter’s hand, “What do you mean he ‘found out’? Did you tell him? Or did he see you? Did you...” She fell silent, eyes big with worry, “...Did you two..”

“No.” Levia stated rather quickly once she understood what her mother meant, shaking her head, “We didn’t. I promise.” She said calmly, watching as her mother relaxed again. 

“He took me to the sea, it‘s so beautiful there.. He wanted to catch some fish to eat and while he did, I was walking around a bit. There was something in the water that looked like a pocket watch, so I got it and there was ‘Ackerman’ engraved on the back of it.” The princess explained, gaze slowly turning darker as she remembered it. 

“We opened it and there were a letter and a picture inside.” The princess reached into the pocket of her nightgown and pulled out the picture, handing it to her mother. 

As soon as Kuchel saw the picture, her eyes widened and she placed her hand over her mouth. “That’s you when you still were a baby. Look how cute you were.”

“That’s father who is holding me, isn’t it?” She questioned, ignoring her mother cooing at the picture. “He wrote he never wanted me and that I was only a disgrace. He wanted to drown and kill me only because I’m not a girl. Wanted to send me to hell because, apparently, that’s where I belong.” Other than the first time where she heard these words, Levia was now calm. It didn’t affect her anymore. 

Her mother was quiet at that and just stared down at the picture, so Levia touched her arm to get her attention. “I just want to know the truth. I was born before father died, I can tell this much. But I need you to tell me the truth, mom.. Please.”

Levia could see that her mother began shaking and rubbed her arm comfortingly, “I know what he thought of me, you don’t need to worry. I just want to hear your side of the story because you should know best.” 

After some more hesitation, Kuchel eventually nodded and inhaled deeply. “Your father was a good man, he really was... He just was weak and he didn’t know how to deal with it.” 

Taking another breath, Kuchel held onto her daughter’s hand and began caressing her. “He wanted a girl because he already had plans for your future. Your father wanted to make our territory larger and larger for our own good, he cared for us. He wouldn’t stop bragging about his daughter being the most powerful queen one day...”

“Then you were born, and we were both surprised to see you were a boy. Your father loved you, the only problem were the people because they were all expecting a girl.”

And somehow, Levia couldn’t believe these words. Her father loving her? He wouldn’t have written such awful things if he really felt this way. But Levia let her continue because she didn’t want to interrupt or doubt her mother at this point, she wanted to believe her words. 

“He began losing his mind with all kinds of insecurities,” The queen continued, sighing a little tiredly. “These thoughts took over his mind and turned his love for you into.. hate. Whatever it was you read, these people caused him to feel this way. He would’ve kept loving you if these people weren’t expecting a girl who was on top of all this planned to marry a prince.”

Levia took her time to let all the information sink in and listened calmly. Maybe her mother was right and her father really loved her, but she still couldn’t really believe it herself, even if she wanted to. She wanted to finish this topic once for all after this talk and never mention it again. 

“He wanted to drown me... Why didn’t he do it?” She questioned when her mother took a longer breath, eyeing her calmly. 

Kuchel just smiled and cupped the girl’s cheek tenderly, looking into her eyes, “Do you really think I’d let anyone hurt you? Not even your own father.. You’re too precious to me.” 

While the girl leaned into her mother’s touch, she nodded in response and closed her eyes momentarily. 

“...Did he kill himself?”

Kuchel was quiet at that and lowered her gaze, enough for Levia to understand. 

“I see..” She whispered. 

“Maybe it was wrong but I wanted your father to be happy in some way. Even if you’re a boy. I.. couldn’t forgive myself after he died so... so I made you act and behave like a girl and kept the promise of you marrying Grisha’s son. That was wrong... I should’ve dealt with the consequences but...” She took a deep breath in and glanced away, “I was scared because I was alone. Now you’re living a difficult life because I was too scared to face my problems back then.”

“Mom.” The girl said firmly, shaking her head, “Stop this. You were still too young back then to make such a decision, I’m not mad with you. Only thanks to you I am where I am now. If you wouldn’t have chosen to do this, I never would’ve met Eren and never would’ve known what love felt like.”

Levia had to smile a little at the mention of Eren. That brat...

“And now-“

“And now, mom, I made the decision to marry Zeke. You did what was best for everyone, now I’m trying to do the same.” 

“But that’s not right, sweetheart. You made me understand it. Seeing you with Eren made me understand so many things.”

“...What do you mean?” Levia questioned slowly, not quite getting where her mother tried to take this conversation. 

“I mean, sometimes it’s better to do what’s best for yourself rather than what’s best for your country. I’ve never seen you happier in my life and this is exactly how I want you to live. Happy and free from all the worries in the world. I don’t care about anyone else as long as you’re happy.” Kuchel reached to the back of her neck and took off her necklace only to put it onto her child. 

“I want you to marry Eren and leave this country. Go and live your life, be whoever you want to be and just be happy. You won’t be happy unless you marry him. I’m your mother, I know and feel it.” Her hands came up to cup Levia’s face, who stared at her mother with wide eyes. 

Flee with Eren? How could she just leave her mother? What would the people think? Wouldn’t her mother get into trouble if she left right before her wedding? Sure, Zeke wasn’t very charming or nice to begin with, but Levia could deal with it. The only thing she was unsure about was him finding out her true gender... He didn’t seem like someone who would take this well. 

Living with Eren could turn out to be really good because Eren only ever treated her with respect and love and nothing else but equal. When he knew her as girl as well as after finding out she wasn’t, he never treated her bad in any way. And Levia was positive it would stay this way for years and decades. 

But even so, how could she leave the person who raised her for sixteen years and shared joy and sorrow with? Her mother did so much for her, she couldn’t just leave her. 

“Not happening.” She stated after some while, her expression turning back normal. “I’m staying here with you. No discussion.”

Kuchel shook her head and leaned up to press a long kiss on her forehead. “You’d make me so happy and proud. Start a new life, be a boy or be a girl. The most important thing for me is you being happy, I’m not asking for anything else.”

“But mom-“

“Do me this favor, sweetheart. Only this once. I trust Eren and I trust you, you’re both strong and can help each other. I want you to live your life the way you want.”

Levia looked down and sighed, fiddling with her fingers. 

“Do you really think I didn’t know you were training your strength here? Or that I didn’t notice how you did get stronger?” Kuchel chuckled as Levia just raised her brows in surprise. 

“You knew?”

“Of course. That’s why I always called before walking inside.” She smiled. 

The princess huffed softly before wrapping her arms around her mother and giving her a big squeeze. “But I can’t just leave...”

“You can and you will because I want you to. You don’t need to be scared of the world or anything. I will always be there for you.” She promised and kissed the side of Levia’s head while the girl touched the necklace she just got. 

“I trust you, mom.” The princess eventually gave in and nuzzled into her mother’s neck, closing her eyes. 

If that was her mother’s wish and it was what would make her happy, how could Levia keep saying no? It wouldn’t be easy, obviously, but it wasn’t impossible either. As long as Eren and her would be there for each other, things would turn out to not be as bad, probably. Well, that was if Eren still wanted to marry her after what she did earlier. She didn’t doubt it too much, though, since she knew Eren didn’t like her decision anyway and wanted her to change her mind. 

The two kept hugging and holding each other for a long while, simply letting the time pass until Kuchel broke the hug to look at her daughter. “Start packing but don’t take too much with you, only the most necessary things. I’ll go and talk with Eren, then come back here and help you.” Pressing another kiss on her daughter’s forehead, Kuchel smiled and got up from the bed to walk out of the room, leaving Levia to herself. 

The ravenette sighed and closed her eyes to let it all go through her head in silence before she got up and clenched her fists. “Tch!” She sounded, fetching a bag and dragging it over to her closet. Clothes were probably the most important things she needed, so she folded some and stuffed them into the bag together with some shoes which were rather comfortable than chic. The last thing she cared about now was to look good. 

When she found she got enough clothes, she glanced over at the dressing table and frowned. Still not sure whether or not she would need her makeup, she just dumped them inside. Levia was living sixteen years as a girl, she wasn’t sure if she could just change from one day to the other, not to mention that people would make their lives harder if they saw they were two guys living together. She might have to keep the act up for some longer. 

Soap, a brush, a few towels, her toothbrush, toothpaste, more soap. She made sure it all fit into one big bag so carrying it would be easier. 

It didn’t take her too long and, eventually, Levia finished and took a shower, then changed her clothes as well, wearing a long, black dress. It didn’t have anything special about it, just a plain, black dress. The only thing standing out was the necklace her mother gave her earlier, also the fact that the princess tied her hair up into a ponytail and wrapped them around into a bun. She didn’t do it too often, though, usually not liking it but it was alright for now. 

Just when she was about to walk out, the door of her room opened and she looked up to see Eren hurrying inside and closing the door quickly. “Oi. You can’t just walk in like that, brat. What if I was-“

She was interrupted by a pair of lips attacking her own and widened her eyes slightly in surprise. Though, it only lasted for a second before the princess was already melting in Eren’s embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck to reach him better, standing on the tips of her toes. 

Levia was the one to break the kiss and stared up into Eren’s big eyes which were filled with so much cheerfulness and light-heartedness. “Are we really doing it?!” He whisper yelled, noticeably struggling to hold it back, “I’ve already packed everything! Your mother said we’re leaving tonight, I can’t wait!”

Seeing Eren filled with so much excitement took some of Levia’s worries away and helped her feeling less nervous about the whole thing, knowing Eren was there for her. “Yeah. She sa-“

“God, I love you!” He interrupted her again by smooching her lips, the smile more than evident. “We’re gonna get married and live together!” He was about to kiss her once more but this time Levia stopped him by placing her hands on his mouth. 

“Brat. Calm.” She ordered, narrowing her eyes. Eren kissed her palms and nodded, inhaling deeply so he would get himself better under control. Once he was calmer, Levia pulled her hands down to rest on his chest and gave him a small pat. 

“You should act like you’re angry at me for the rest of the day. Don’t talk to me and don’t look at me.” As long as they acted like they weren’t spending any time together anymore, they wouldn’t appear suspicious to anyone. 

“But-“ Eren complained sadly while Levia quickly spoke again, “Just do what I’m telling you. It’s just this one day left.” She wanted this to work so they could leave without drawing any attention. 

The prince’s face relaxed again and he nodded slowly while his hand brushed some of her hair back. “You’re right.” He pressed a long kiss on her forehead and pulled back with a smile. “I won’t disappoint you!” 

Levia nodded, her hand moving up to cup Eren’s cheeks as her thumb gently rubbed his skin. “I know you won’t.” She pecked his lips before furrowing her brows. “You need to play along.”

The brunet looked confused and opened his mouth to question it but before he could even do anything, Levia already struck him across the face, the loud sound echoing through the room. “I can’t believe you!” She said loudly, almost shouting. Eren just held his cheek with big eyes, staring at the princess with confusion. 

“I already said I won’t marry you! Now leave me alone already!” She stared at Eren who seemed confused for the most part. But he finally understood when Levia glared at him. “I’m so much better than him!” He shouted back before grinning and whispering, “At least I don’t look like a monkey.” 

The princess just rolled her eyes at that and began shoving Eren towards the door. “Don’t you ever talk to me again!” Before she could open the door, Eren turned around and kissed the tip of her nose. “Love you,” He whispered, then swung the door open and heavily stomped outside, making his way to who knew where. 

Levia ’tch’ed and left her room as well. It was already time for dinner, so she walked to the dining hall and sat on the chair she always sat on, folding her hands on her lap calmly. Her mother and Eren’s parents were already sitting there and when she looked up, she saw Zeke and his mother walking in as well. Of course, he had to sit right next to her but Levia kept her calm posture even after he placed a hand on her thigh. 

“You look stressed.” He pointed out and rubbed her leg which Levia just shrugged at and looked around, not saying much. It didn’t take long for Eren to finally come as well and sit down across from her. He was frowning so deeply and she could tell why, though, didn’t say anything. 

“Eren!” His mother shrieked, turning his head slightly. “What happened?! Where does this come from?!”

The brunet eyed Levia from the side before looking back at his mother and speaking, “Something struck me when I wasn’t paying attention.” 

There was a long silence with everyone looking between him and Levia before Zeke, out of them all, bursted out in laughter. “She struck you? A woman did this to you, little brother?” He mocked. Levia clenched her teeth, her frown deep as she eyed the blond. She was just barely holding back from striking him too. That bastard. 

“Shut up.” Eren snapped, “And stop calling me that. I’m not your brother.” He stated as a matter of fact and glared at Zeke before pulling his gaze away to look somewhere else. 

Lucky for them, the food was done and servants soon began placing many plates with food on the table. There was chicken, meat, fish, rice, soup, vegetables prepared in different ways and even more- too much for Levia’s liking. It’d just go to waste. But now wasn’t time to complain. 

“Please, help yourself. Our cook is the best in the whole country.” Kuchel motioned to the many plates of food and soon everyone began reaching for food and placing it in their plate. Needless to say, the food really was great and everyone seemed to like the taste apart from Zeke. 

“It’s not the worst, but there are definitely better cooks.” He stated at some point, making Eren groan annoyedly, “Just eat.”

The rest of the time, everyone was quiet and ate their food. Zeke’s hand was still on Levia’s thigh and, whenever he moved too close to her crotch, she slapped his hand away only for him to place it back where it was. She didn’t want to make a scene, so just pushed his hand away whenever he tried to get too close. His touch gave her goosebumps, and definitely not the good kind of it. The way he touched her.. she didn’t like it in any way. She didn’t even let Eren touch her this close yet because she wasn’t comfortable with it. So she just tried to keep his hand at distance but he just wouldn’t stop trying to get closer. Levia wasn’t even sure if he did it in a playful way or if he really just wanted to touch her, and that at the dining table with their parents sitting with them. 

When it got too much for her, she just grabbed his hand and held it to stop him from touching her there. Holding his hand felt better than having his this close without control. The blond looked at her, gave her a smile and intertwined their fingers to hold her better. Levia just stared down at her untouched plate and set her fork down after poking the food a few times. 

“What’s wrong?” Her mother asked worriedly, “Why aren’t you eating?”

“I’m not hungry.” Not true. Zeke just took her appetite with his dirty touch. 

“Come on, sweetheart. You should eat at least a bit.” Her mother tried to convince her and gave her arm a small rub. 

“Eat.” Zeke ordered firmly, glancing at her from the side. 

The princess looked back at him and repeated slowly so he could understand, “I’m not hungry.” 

In a matter of seconds, Zeke grabbed her by her hair and dragged her closer. “I said eat, so you eat. You won’t leave anything on your plate, am I clear?” 

Levia hissed and reached up in attempts to get his hand off her hair. At least she made a bun, it was better than having her hair open. She was lifted off her chair with how Zeke was holding her and shot him a nasty glare. “I said-“

“I don’t care.” He said simply, “Eat.” 

“Hey! Let go of her, asshole!” Eren shot up from his seat with a mad expression but his mother was holding him back from walking over by clutching his arm. She looked worried. Kuchel was watching with wide eyes and stood up as well. “Stop! Let go of her right now!” 

The blond glanced over at her indifferently, then looked at Levia again who was trying to get rid of his hand. “Let go,” She hissed and when Zeke still wouldn’t listen and just answered with a bored “Make me”, she decided she had to act herself. 

The princess kicked her chair back and took ahold of his wrist with both hands, then spun herself under his arm until he was forced to let go and she roughly pressed his arm against his back, pressuring him mercilessly in a way it could break his bone if she wanted to. “You don’t touch me and you surely don’t tell me what to do either.” She growled angrily and only then realized what she did in front of everyone. But, truth be told, she didn’t care. Not one bit. Be it Zeke or Eren or whoever, if she didn’t want to be touched, she would make it clear. 

They were all staring at her with wide eyes, apart from Eren who looked more or less satisfied and sat back down. Their parents were speechless and Levia wasn’t sure what might be going through their heads in that moment. 

Zeke didn’t at all look content with the way Levia was holding him and stood up, yanking his arm back and turning to face her. “I see. You’re spoiled, that’s why you don’t listen. Don’t worry, I’ll teach you how to listen to your husband.” 

The expression on his face was dark, the light reflected in his glasses, and without any warning, he raised his large hand and slapped the princess so hard, it made her fall. Her ears were ringing and she felt dizzy for a good moment, but Levia was madder than ever. How dare he treat her like that?!

“You have no right to hit my daughter!” Kuchel shouted in an angry tone. 

“Actually,” Zeke shrugged, “I do. She’s not listening to her husband and it looks like you didn’t raise her right without her father, so it’s my job to make sure she is.” He looked back at Levia who was still at the ground, folding his arms over his chest. “Get up and ask me for forgiveness.” He ordered next. 

Levia was panting through her teeth, narrowing her eyes at him. “Make me.” She spat which earned herself a rough kick against her leg, making her groan uncomfortably. It was a hard kick, and she barely felt her leg anymore, but it still wasn’t enough for her to do what he wanted. 

When Levia still wasn’t apologizing, Zeke lifted her by her hair again and brought her up to his level. “You’re not going anywhere unless you ask for forgiveness.” He reminded her, his voice calm and low. 

She saw that Eren was about to come over but she shot him a glare to tell him to stay right where he was. She didn’t need Eren or anyone to rescue her, she was able to defend herself. Girl or boy, it didn’t matter. Levia wasn’t weak. 

“How about you go and fuck yourself, Zeke.” She snarled and used her good leg to kick him between his legs, using the tip of her shoe to hit him just right. The blond yelped in pain and dropped Levia so he could bend over and hold his crotch. 

“Ugh!” The princess fell onto her butt with a thud and didn’t take long to stand up. She was standing on one leg, the other one only halfway on the floor. At this point, Kuchel quickly pulled her daughter behind her and stood in front of her like a wall. It wasn’t uncommon for a man to hit his wife sometimes, but what these two were doing was insane. 

“If you’re planning to marry my daughter, you’ll apologize and stop this behavior.” The queen spoke firmly in a serious manner, “She’s not some animal for you to hurt her like that and if you don’t understand that, you can leave.”

After a minute or two, the blond recovered from the pain and was standing straight again while watching mother and daughter. He listened to Kuchel saying all that, his lips twitching up into a little grin. “You’re right.” He took a few steps closer and bowed, “Please forgive me. My behavior was unacceptable. It won’t happen again.”

There was no way he meant what he said, judging from his expression, but it was only a few more hours they needed to survive, then Eren and her would be gone, far away gone from this guy. 

Kuchel nudged her daughter’s side lightly, “Apologize too.” She advised. 

The princess sighed deeply before looking over at Zeke. It was hard not to sound too sarcastic while speaking, especially after what this guy just did to her. “...I’m sorry.” She forced through her teeth. 

When Zeke nodded in acknowledgment, Kuchel turned to her daughter and wrapped the girl’s arm around her own shoulders. “Come, my dear,” She murmured and helped her daughter to walk out of the hall, taking most of her weight onto herself to make it easier for Levia to walk. 

“Please continue eating. I will be back soon.” Kuchel called out before the two were already out and walked through the hallway. The princess was in a lot of pain but she clenched her teeth and endured it all the way to her room. When she finally sat down, she let out a long sigh and fisted her hands into the sheets. 

Kuchel helped to slowly lift her leg to rest on the bed and pulled up the dress to be able to take a look at her leg, her eyes widening. There was a huge, dark spot on Levia’s thigh now, about as big as a whole hand. Very deep blue, almost black, which faded into a dark purple on the sides. 

“It’s not as bad as it looks.” Levia assured quickly, “It just needs some ice.” The last thing she needed now was her mother worrying about her even if it was inevitable with the way her leg looked. 

“I’ll get someone to look over it. I’ll be right back.” The queen was a little overwhelmed. No one ever had laid a hand on Levia, and it wasn’t the best sight to see her daughter hurt after so much just happened. 

Before the princess could even say anything, her mother rushed out of the room, so she just fell back into her bed and closed her eyes. She was so exhausted, just wanted to get away from this guy already. If she wouldn’t have agreed to leave the country and really had to marry this Zeke guy, she knew her life would be a living hell. Now, she was happier than ever about her decision. 

Her mother came back with a nurse who took care of Levia’s leg. The nurse smeared some balsam around the bruise, covering it wholly. It made Levia flinch a few times but, all in all, it was alright once there were bandages wrapped around her thigh. “Rest your leg, it’d be better if you didn’t walk around for a few days.”

The nurse then gathered her things and left the room quietly while the princess was staring down at her lap. “...I think it’s better if you and Eren left tomorrow, sweetheart. You can’t walk like this.” Her mother advised, her voice trembling ever so slightly. 

“Tch.” The girl slowly scooted off the bed, “I can walk just fine.” She forced herself up and gripped the pole of her bed tightly, gritting her teeth. She couldn’t put any pressure on her leg, so walking was hard, she was obviously struggling with it, but she managed a few small steps before looking up again. “See? I can do this.” 

Her mother didn’t look convinced at all, the look of worry taking over her whole being. “Sit down and rest. You shouldn’t walk around, sweetheart..” She walked over and guided the girl back to sit down on the bed and made her rest her legon a fluffy pillow. 

“Mom...” Levia murmured, reaching out to hold onto her hand, “I’ll be fine, I promise. I’d rather get hurt by leaving than by staying here where Zeke is.” The sooner she left, the less she had to deal with this guy. The princess figured he couldn’t touch her mother, since he only did all this because she soon would be his wife and needed to ‘listen’ to him, so she hoped he’d look for someone else to marry once she was gone. 

Kuchel was sitting next to her daughter and stared down at her leg in thought while Levia was rubbing her mother’s hand to try and soothe her. “...Alright.” The ravenette agreed, “You’ll do it tonight, as planned...”

Levia felt a huge amount of relief overcoming her, it took a load off her mind and set her more at ease. She had one thing less to worry about which definitely was good and satisfying to know. 

“But.” Her mother stated then, eyeing her closely, “You won’t leave the bed until then. You’ll stay here and rest up. Deal?” Without hesitating much, Levia nodded in agreement and gave her mother’s hand a squeeze, thanking her quietly. 

“I need to go and look for the others... will you be alright on your own?” Kuchel questioned, tucking some of Levia’s hair behind her ear. Thanks to Zeke, her hair was now partially open and was hanging down her shoulders, looking messy and knotted. Her head was hurting a lot too but she could deal with it this far. 

“Of course. I’ll stay here.” Levia got herself comfortable in her bed and rested her head on one of the soft, fluffy pillows. Her mother was right, she really needed rest after all this and staying in her bed for a while might turn out to be a good idea. 

After her mother pressed a last kiss on her forehead and made sure she was tucked in properly, Kuchel left the room and the princess closed her eyes. She nuzzled her face into her pillow, sighing softly. It was a long day, she was exhausted, so she wanted to get some sleep to have the power to get up later. 

It wasn’t long until she heard the door of her room opening and someone walking in. “Didn’t I tell you to knock?” She huffed annoyedly, opening her eyes and looking at the figure hovering above her. Her eyes widened momentarily in surprise before returning stoic and cold. 

“What? Were you expecting someone else?” The man chuckled and Levia could’ve thrown up from just seeing him. 

“Leave my room, Zeke.” She ordered firmly, pushing herself into a sitting position only to be shoved back against the mattress. With a hint of confusion and a lot anger, Levia glared up at Zeke. 

“Listen. I don’t have time for these festivities and all that. We’ll get married and then I have to return to my castle.” He spoke while slowly getting onto the bed and straddled her hips, pushing both of her arms back while the princess struggled to free her arms. 

“I don’t care. Get off me.” She growled but with how Zeke was sitting on top of her, she had no chance to get free on her own. “If you don’t get off, I’ll shout.” 

Zeke couldn’t but laugh and shook his head. “You’ll shout? That’s pretty rude. But you won’t shout.”

“Oh, yeah?” She challenged and opened her mouth to do just that, though she quickly was stopped by something being shoved into her mouth, silencing her. 

“Yeah, you won’t. I won’t have time tomorrow to do this, so we’ll do it now.” He smirked and leaned down to start kissing her neck, his cold lips trailing along her skin which made the princess shiver uncomfortably. 

“Mgh! Mggh!!” No matter how much she tried to create distance between them, Zeke stayed glued against her like a leech. He started leaving hickeys on her pale skin, his lips trailing from her neck to her shoulder and her clothed chest where he nudged her with his nose. 

“There’s not much here, is there? I’m sure it’ll grow once you’ve given birth to our child.” Levia glared at him furiously, her whole body shaking with rage. Her arms were restrained against the mattress, she couldn’t move her legs from how Zeke was sitting on them but she surely could feel something hard nudging her thigh and it definitely wasn’t any part of Zeke’s leg. 

As the princess kept trying to get out of Zeke’s grip, the blond kept moving further down with his kisses until he reached Levia’s stomach and glanced up at her. “Mgh!!” The princess groaned again, as if she was trying to say something. Zeke saw that and slowly leaned up again, giving her an amused look. 

“What is it?” He questioned, “You wanna tell me something?” 

The princess nodded lightly and panted through the cloth in her mouth. “And you won’t shout as soon as I let you talk, right?” Again, Levia nodded and Zeke finally gave her the chance to breathe properly by removing the cloth. “Try it and I’ll cut out your tongue,” He added warningly. 

Levia stared up at Zeke, her brows knitted together, her teeth clenched. “...I can’t have any children.” She muttered which Zeke tilted his head at. 

“Oh? Why that? You look pretty healthy to me.” He pointed out, using one hand to grab her face and turn it to each side. 

“Because.” She snatched his arm and pushed it away from her face, “I’m barren. I can’t have any children even if I wanted to, the doctors examined me several times.” Levia had to improvise in order to make Zeke stop what he was doing and just took the very first thing that came to her mind. She couldn’t let him continue such a horrible thing, she felt awful and disgusting to have his lips on her skin or his hands on her body. 

“Is that so?” The blond asked and Levia could tell he wasn’t believing her- not that she blamed him for it, she wouldn’t just believe things she heard either. 

“You can go and ask my mother, she’ll tell you the same.” Under the condition her mother would understand and play along, of course. 

Zeke raised a brow calmly, “I don’t know if I can trust you.” He admitted, “What if you’re just saying it because you don’t want to do it? Hm?”

“If I’m lying, you can do whatever you want with me tomorrow. I’ll go with you and you can hit and rape me as you like. That’s what you want after all, right?” Sick in the head was pretty good to describe Zeke, but definitely not enough. This guy was revolting. The longer Levia felt him this close, the more uncomfortable she felt. She wanted to get rid of him and be alone but she first needed to convince him to leave the room. 

And it seemed to work because Zeke looked like he was in thought. The room filled with silence, only their breathing could be heard apart from a few other sounds outside, coming from the garden, probably. The girl’s expression was more serious than ever, there was no hint of concern or worry in her expression, nor any fear. Cold, stoic, stern, more than usually. Even if she deep inside was a little worried this might not work, she definitely didn’t show it. 

“I see.” The prince eventually gave in. He pressed his lips onto Levia’s to give her a kiss before standing up. “I’ll go and talk to your mother then. If that’s really true and you can’t get any children, that won’t hold me back from having sex with you, just so you know. You’re pretty so I’ll want use that.” He scratched his ear lightly, “I’ll just get someone else who will bear my child and we’ll act like it’s ours.”

Levia wasn‘t bothered by how indifferent Zeke was talking to her about a topic like that, it only showed her yet again how much of a disgusting person he was. He only wanted their land and Levia as an object of his desire and lust, there wasn’t much more to it. But she was fine with that because she soon didn’t have to worry about anything he did anymore, soon she would be free and could live her life with someone who saw more in her than just a pretty face. 

“Whatever you say.” She said, slowly sitting up and rubbing her wrists. They hurt and were bruised from how hard Zeke was gripping them, not to mention the amount of hickeys he left on her neck and collar. It all made her feel so abused and weak; she couldn’t stop him from doing all this to her, she still was weak and she hated this feeling the most. To be vulnerable, weak, to be the frail, little girl everyone saw her as. She despised it. 

The prince left the room without another word and Levia was frowning deeper than ever. Grabbing the nearest pillow, she ripped it into two pieces, causing the feathers to hover all around her. “Son of a bitch...” She cursed under her breath, soon standing up and limping over to her dressing table. When she looked at herself and saw the many hickeys left on her body, she only got madder and threw everything that was on the table onto the floor with a loud huff. “Ugh!”

She needed air, had to get out of this room, so she simply wrapped a scarf around herself and left her room promptly, stomping down the halls while holding onto the wall to not fall. A few servants crossed her way, asking if she needed any help but, every time, Levia just sent them away. 

The princess reached the front door and barged out of the castle, limping all the way to the stables and only pausing when she reached it. She sat on a hay bale and panted heavily, shutting her eyes for a while as she just took deep breaths in attempts to calm down. There never was someone who made Levia this mad before, she always managed to deal with annoying people but this guy was clearly too much. She never met someone like him before, he was just such an awful person. 

While the princess sat there and tried to calm down again, someone touched her shoulder, making her eyes shot open. Without even checking who it was, she turned around and threw a hard punch into the person’s face. “Leave me alone already, bastard!” She snarled, only to realize it was Eren she hit. 

The brunet looked utterly confused and was holding his jaw as he took his hand back slowly. “..I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” He still smiled a little and sat down next to the princess who huffed and turned to glare at the ground instead. A few, short moments later, Eren placed his hand against her back and gave her a small rub. “What’s wrong? What happened?” 

“Nothing.” Levia answered shortly, keeping her sleeves down so Eren wouldn’t see her wrists. “You shouldn’t sit here, someone could see us.” Obviously, she still loved Eren, nothing changed, but she already had enough issues the way it was with Zeke and she really didn’t need more. 

“And you should be in bed, but here we are.” The prince reached for her hands, gently holding them in his own. “Is it because of Zeke? I can’t believe he did this to you next to everyone... I want to rip him to pieces.” Even though Eren was mad, he still pressed soft butterfly kisses on Levia’s hands. 

“He came to my room.” Levia really didn’t want to talk about it, yet alone let Eren know this, but she didn’t want to keep any secrets from him so he had the right to know. “Pinned me against my bed and started to kiss me...” Remembering it made all the anger come back as she squeezed Eren’s hands tightly. 

Eren was shocked to hear this, his eyes wide with surprise but soon filled with pure anger and rage. “Did he-“

“No.” Levia said quickly, lifting her gaze to look into his eyes, “He wanted to impregnate me but I told him I was barren. He didn’t believe it so I told him to ask mom. That’s where he is now, probably.” She remembered how he said he’d use her only because she was pretty and would still have sex with her. It still was a miracle to her how she even managed to make him leave the room. 

“I couldn’t stop him earlier..” She was ashamed of herself for letting anyone come this close to her and doing things she didn’t want. 

Eren was quiet and when Levia looked up at him, she saw how furious he was. “He molested you... and I couldn’t stop him. I’m sorry..” The boy gritted his teeth, his frown deepening more and more. “It’s not your fault,” Levia reminded calmly, “Don’t be stupid.” Eren couldn’t know what was happening, so there was no need to place any blame on him. The only one who was to blame was Zeke. 

The brunet sighed and brought up Levia’s hands so he could press a kiss to her palms. “He’ll pay for it. I’ll make him regret to ever have been born.” Eren stated firmly and confidently, as if it was that easy. 

“You won’t do anything.” Levia narrowed her eyes, “Just leave it be. It’s over and I’m fine. I think he won’t come back today anymore, so it’s fine.” She sighed exhaustedly and slowly pulled her hands back, resting them on her lap. 

“You want me to sit here and do nothing after he almost raped you?!” The brunet snapped, a little too loud for Levia’s liking. 

She glared at him. “Yes.” She said simply, watching how Eren only grew angrier. 

“I’m not just going to sit around and do nothing!” He kept arguing. 

“That’s what you’ll do. Now shut up or people will hear you.” Getting caught with Eren now was the last she needed on top of everything that already happened. 

“I don’t care!” Eren snapped, “We have to do something! First at dinner, and now this?! He’s dangerous!”

Levia just stared at Eren for a while before slowly standing up. “I guess I shouldn’t have told you now.” She stated, giving a half-hearted shrug, “I’m willing to talk with you once you’re calm again.” Turning around, she started walking. 

The brunet got up quickly and grabbed her by her shoulders, giving her a little shake, “What’s wrong with you? He’s touching and kissing you and you just want to act as if it never happened?”

The princess placed both hands on Eren’s chest and pushed him back so he’d let go of her. “Do you think I liked what he did? Do you think I’m happy about this?!” She raised her voice and pulled off her scarf so she could point at the countless hickeys on her skin. “Do you think I like this?! Or that I like what he did to me?! Or that I like the way he talked and-“ 

Levia just stopped and inhaled deeply, staring down at the scarf in her hands with a frown. “...I’m not doing anything so we don’t have to wait longer to go. My leg is already bad enough but I don’t care, we’re leaving tonight.” She lifted her gaze to see Eren staring at her neck with sad eyes. It seemed as if he only now understood what she was talking about. 

“If I tell someone what happened, they’ll keep me under surveillance for my own safety. And I hope you understand that I can’t set a foot outside of this castle without someone watching me then.” The princess sighed again and wrapped the scarf back around her neck to cover herself again. With how Eren was staring at her, it wasn’t very comfortable. 

Afterwards, there was a long silence where both stared at each other for a couple of moments, not doing anything. It didn’t take long for Eren to approach Levia and pull her closer for a hug which the princess didn’t return. She just stood there motionlessly while Eren cradled her head against his chest and rubbed her back. 

“I’m sorry.” A small whisper against her hair, followed by, “I wasn’t thinking this through. You’re right...” Next thing the princess knew, her head was lifted and Eren looked into her eyes, his hand comfortably resting on her cheek. His lips pressed onto her forehead and dared to meet her own but Levia was quick enough to turn her head away and took a step back to create distance. 

“...What’s wrong?” The brunet asked, a glint of worry in his eyes. He stepped closer and reached out to place his hand on her arm but, again, Levia took a step back. 

That this wasn’t Zeke was obvious, but she just didn’t feel comfortable with someone touching her. She wasn’t scared of Eren, neither did she think he’d do such awful things to her, it was like a protective mechanism to not feel any hands on herself. 

“...Levia?” Eren furrowed his brows confusedly and this time stood where he was, not trying to get closer which Levia was thankful for. “I just need some time alone,” She stated, then looked up at Eren who gave her a small, sad smile in return. 

“Of course. I didn’t mean to get too close to you.” It seemed as if Eren understood, which was good, so the princess turned around and began walking- or limping- back. “...I love you.” Eren added loud enough for her to hear, “And I’ll be waiting for you here.”

With a short nod, the princess continued her way but instead of going back to her own room, she walked into her mother’s and crawled under the sheets. She curled up and let out a deep sigh, her leg hurting from how much she was walking around. Now that she was in a place she felt safe at and was hidden under blankets and pillows, Levia finally found herself getting some much needed sleep. Her whole body relaxed and rested like she was supposed to. For a while, she wouldn’t have to worry about anything and could just sleep. 

It was a couple of hours later when she suddenly felt someone touching her face, causing her eyes to shot open immediately. As soon as she saw who it was, though, she relaxed greatly and reached up to hold onto the hand on her face, nuzzling her cheek into the soft palm. 

“Did you sleep well, sweetheart?” Levia couldn’t but nod her head at the question and sat up so she could pull her mother closer and hug her. She buried her face into her mother’s stomach and sighed softly while Kuchel’s fingers gently stroked the girl’s head. “You scared me. I searched the whole castle until I found you here.” She playfully pinched Levia’s ear who cracked a small smile. “It’s my favorite place,” She reasoned simply. 

Kuchel kept holding her daughter for a while, really only hugging and snuggling her. Levia enjoyed it a lot, felt safe and comfortable like she always did when she was with her mother. “...It’s already dark outside,” Her mother said calmly and pressed a kiss on her head, “I bet Eren is already waiting for you. I also already brought your stuff out to your horse so we won’t have to waste time with it. But there are a few things I’d like to give you before.” 

Now that it slowly came closer to actually leaving her mother, the princess began feeling a little uneasy. She got that weird feeling in her stomach, one that told her something was about to go wrong. It was dark outside and it’d need a lot of lights to see who was on front of somebody and see their face- actually, the perfect time to leave without fearing to get caught. 

Shaking her head a little to clear off these thoughts, Levia watched as her mother walked back and forth a few times to gather some things in a small treasure box she was holding. From how Levia could see, it was mostly jewelry, something that looked like a small stack of papers and something Levia couldn’t make out from where she sat, she was too far away. Kuchel even took off some of the bracelets and rings she was wearing and placed it all into the casket before closing and locking it. She walked over and placed it on Levia’s lap, handing her the key as well. 

“This is everything I want you to keep. If you don’t have enough money left one day, you can sell them. Just.. Do me a favor and don’t sell this one.” Kuchel slid her wedding band off her finger and placed it in Levia’s palm, her lips curling into a smile as she watched her daughter looking at the ring. Soon, Levia shook her head lightly and gripped the ring firmly in her fist. “I won’t ever.” This was her mother’s ring and, even though she got it from her father, she wouldn’t dare to sell it 

“Oh!” Kuchel sounded upon remembering something and hurried over to her big closet, opening it and pulling out something big and white. At closer inspection, the princess realized it was a wedding dress which made her eyes widen. “I wore this on my wedding day almost eighteen years ago. I know we tailored one for you but seeing you and Eren together... I’d like to see you wearing this one.”

The ravenette quietly stood up and limped over to her mother carefully. Her hand came up to touch the fabric of the dress, her eyes trailing up and down. The dress was made of lace which was soft to the touch and had a v-neck that wouldn’t show too much. It had long sleeves made of lace with a translucent flower pattern which continued all over the dress’ length in a decent and light way. The bottom part of the dress was a mixture of chiffon and lace with much tulle underneath it to make it appear fluffier and bigger and give the dress a shape. 

The dress was beautiful in every way, not that Levia expected her mother to wear ugly things to begin with, but this one overwhelmed her and left her speechless for a while. Wearing her mother’s wedding dress would be the biggest honor Levia could ever have so there was absolutely no way for her to turn it down. “...It’s beautiful.” She murmured softly as her fingers tenderly moved over the fabric. “I’d love to wear it. Thank you, mom..”

The ravenette stepped closer and hugged her mother, squeezing her while resting her head against her shoulder. “...I’ll miss you a lot.”

Kuchel returned the hug without second thought and rubbed her child’s back. “I’ll miss you too. One day, we’ll meet again, when things are less complicated.” She seemed to be much more optimistic about it that Levia was and it somehow helped the girl to believe it too, making the leave just a little bit less painful. 

With a kiss on the head, Kuchel pulled back and held the dress out for her daughter, smiling contently. “Would you like to put it on now? I’ve talked to a priest I trust and he said he’d make a small ceremony and marry you two before you leave. Eren knows that, I bet he’ll dress up properly too.” 

Nodding her head lightly, Levia took the dress and walked over to lay it on the bed, smoothing it out a little. She then undid her scarf, placing it on the other side of the bed, and was about to undress the rest of her clothes until she heard her mother gasping loudly for some reason. The princess turned over and stared at her mother confusedly until she noticed she was looking at her neck and understood what surprised her so much, lowering her gaze. 

“Levia, what’s that?” She questioned, stepping closer and lightly touching her neck. “Did you and Eren already-“

“No. We didn’t.” She said quickly, fiddling with her sleeves. “...Zeke came into my room after you left. He wanted to...” She paused, frown deepening. “But I managed to get him off before he.. did anything.” Levia didn’t want to tell her mother because she didn’t want to worry her about her child getting molested by the person she was supposed to marry, but there was no going back anymore now that she saw the hickeys. Eventually, she pulled up her sleeves as well to show her the bruised places Zeke gripped her at. If Eren would’ve given her hickeys, he at least wouldn’t have bruised her wrists like that. After all, Eren already forced himself onto her and gave her a single hickey, but even then, he hasn’t left a single bruise on her body. He was tender and careful and it was what Levia appreciated about him. 

“That’s why he came to me? Oh dear God..” The older women whispered, taking both of her daughter’s hands into her own and squeezing her. “Are you alright? Did he hurt you anywhere else?” Levia nodded, then shook her head in response to her mother’s questions which seemed like a small relief to her. “He won’t ever touch you again, I promise. I’ll make sure of it myself.” She brought the girl’s hands up and pressed light kisses on the wrists and her hands. 

Hearing these things coming from her mother gave Levia strength, not only to withstand this humiliation, but also to keep going and grow even stronger emotionally. 

“We can cover it with makeup, alright? Now just put on the dress.” Kuchel let go of her hands and Levia continued undressing so she was only left in her undergarments before she reached for the dress. But before she put it on, she hesitated and stared down at it. 

“Mom? Can I wear dresses but be a.. boy?” Levia wasn’t comfortable anymore to act like a girl ever since she found out it only was to please her father who never loved her- so why should she keep the act up? He didn’t deserve all the trouble she had to live through. That didn’t change the fact that Levia felt comfortable in dresses, though. They were cozy and looked good, so she wouldn’t like to never be able to wear them again. 

Kuchel smiled at what Levia said, her hand coming up to cup her cheek tenderly. “You can be whoever you want and you can wear whatever you want. From today on, it’s entirely your life. You decide what you want and what not. I’ll support you with whatever decision you make.” She used both of her hands to hold her daughter’s face, looking deeply into her eyes, “Your life, your body, your decision. I love you and will always love you.” 

Levia was so relieved to hear her mother saying all that and smiled ever so tenderly at her words. She knew what she wanted and knowing her mother accepted her decision, whatever it was, made her really happy. “I love you too.” She just said and hugged her mother yet again, though, this time Kuchel pulled back rather quickly and tapped her wrist. “You should hurry or else you won’t make it out of the kingdom early enough.”

“Right.” Levia nodded and soon slipped into the long dress as her mother tied it on the back, tying the end of it to a bow. She then fixed the dress a little here and there and stepped back to look at Levia, her eyes filling with tears at the sight. “You look so beautiful..” She murmured while Levia looked down at herself. Her mother wasn’t that much taller than her so the dress was just a tad bit too long but it wasn’t bothering her at all. 

Next, they took care of Levia’s neck to cover it with makeup, making sure no hickeys would be visible anymore. Kuchel also took care of Levia’s wrists and it looked as if nothing ever happened to her. The princess refused to put any makeup on her face, though, so Kuchel only braided her hair around her head so it’d all be pinned up and out of her face. Everything was kept simple but that was exactly what made it all so much more beautiful. 

“Alright,” Kuchel confirmed, giving a confident nod, “We’re done. You’re ready to go now.” 

The princess looked at herself into the mirror and eyed the dress up and down calmly. It really looked good and made Levia feel comfortable in every way. “Thank you.. I like it a lot.” She turned over, giving her mother a small and decent smile. “I love you, mom. You’re the best.” 

“Love you too, sweetheart.” The queen spoke, kissing her daughter’s head gently. “Now let’s get going, the time has come.” She used one of the bigger, black coats to throw over the princess and hide the dress underneath so nobody could see it until Levia took the coat off again. Grabbing the small casket, Kuchel held her hand out for her daughter to take before leading the girl out of the room. It was already past midnight and everyone was sleeping, the halls were empty, so Kuchel lead Levia out, quick and quiet. 

The ravenette followed her mother closely, feeling her heart thumping just a little faster. It all was so thrilling, to do something she never before thought of doing. Something forbidden. And that with Eren, plus her mother’s blessings. It didn’t feel wrong at all, this was what she wanted. And actually getting it was a wonderful feeling. 

The two made their way through the castle, taking a few turns before eventually walking out. At the stables, Levia could already see the lights of small candles and three figures standing in the dim light. She squeezed her mother’s arm the closer they got and inhaled deeply to clear her thoughts and focus on the important things, aka Eren. 

Just when they stood at the entrance of the stables, Kuchel pulled off the coat, revealing Levia’s wedding dress which fit perfectly like a glove. The princess smoothed out the fabric a little before lifting her gaze to meet Eren’s who was staring at her with wide eyes, his lips parted to gasp ever so softly. He looked so overwhelmed in a definitely good way and was only staring at his bride with his big emerald eyes and a big, happy smile on his lips. “Woah..” The brunet whispered while his mother by his side gently placed her hand on his shoulder, a silent approval of his reaction. Carla looked surprised too and it made Levia so happy to see these two reacting so positively to her wearing that dress. 

Having Eren’s eyes on her like that was a big source of confidence for Levia. Seeing his smile, his eyes, the happiness in his whole face. It was the best feeling ever. Slowly, she began walking towards the brunet, her eyes fixed with his while her mother’s arm entangled with her own. Kuchel lead her over and with each small step she took, Levia was more convinced that this was the right decision, that this was what she wanted. What they all wanted. 

It didn’t take long and soon, Levia was standing next to Eren, looking up into these big emerald eyes which stole her heart completely. “Hi...” Eren muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. It seemed like he was still trying to take in the sight in front of him. “You’re... so beautiful. N-not that you didn’t look beautiful before! You’re always beautiful- I-I just mean- you know- haha!” He scratched the back of his neck nervously, a very faint pink covering his cheeks. Now, that was something Levia hasn’t seen before either and it made the brat look so adorable, Levia had to smirk a little. 

“Oi.” She pressed her finger against his lips, silencing him before gently touching his cheek. “I know what you mean.” Her hand slowly moved down again as she took the flowers he was holding into her own hand, then grabbed one of his hands to hold him. Eren rubbed the back of her hand, intertwining their fingers and giving her a squeeze. “And you don’t look bad either,” The princess commented, eyeing him up and down, “Not messy.” Even his hair was tied back properly and there was no single stain or wrinkle in his clothes, everything looked neat and tidy, the way Levia liked it. 

The brunet chuckled softly and pecked Levia’s forehead with a small hum. They only then noticed the way their mothers were looking at them, cooing and smiling. Kuchel and Carla were reacting the same, positive way, it was heartwarming to see. “How cute,” Kuchel murmured with a soft smile. “Look at them growing up,” Carla added, letting out a small chuckle as both women hugged each other happily. 

Eren wrapped an arm around Levia and hugged her, smiling proudly at the two while the princess looked up at her fiancé and rolled her eyes playfully. “What a brat you are..” She murmured, resting her head against his chest lightly. It almost made Kuchel squeal with joy. 

A moment later, the priest cleared his throats to get everyone’s attention and looked at the two engaged ones. “Can we start then?” Eren was the first one to nod his head heavily and took a small step back so he could look down at Levia who calmly returned his gaze and listened as the man began speaking. “We are gathered here today to join these two in holy matrimony. Please repeat after me.” 

The brunet squeezed Levia’s hand at that and, just like the priest said, began making his vow. “Levia, I-“ He barely said before he was already interrupted. “Levi.” Gray eyes gleamed in the dim light, followed by a firm yet soft: “Just Levi.”

Everyone stared in silence at first until Eren’s gaze softened and he tenderly cupped Levi’s cheek, his thumb gently brushing over the smooth skin. “Levi,” He corrected, “I promise to cherish you always, to honor and sustain you... in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth, and to be true to you in all things until death alone shall part us.” 

Kuchel stared at her child for a moment before she herself had to smile too. Levi saw her smiling and took it as her giving the approval of the small but important change. Levi just made an important decision and the very first decision all by himself. It was the first time he did what he wanted and felt comfortable with, and seeing that his mother, Eren and even Carla had no issue with it was a huge relief. 

Levi was the next one to speak and looked deep into Eren’s eyes, repeating slowly what the priest said. “Eren, I promise to cherish you always... to honor and sustain you... in sickness and in health... in poverty and in wealth... and to be true to you in all things until death alone shall part us.” 

There was a short break afterwards before the priest continued, looking at Eren. “You’ll need the wedding bands now.” At that, Levi opened his fist, letting Eren take the ring from his palm. As Eren took it and held it against Levi’s finger, they looked into each other’s eyes again while the man spoke. “With this ring...”

“With this ring I, Eren Jaeger, take you, Levi Ackerman, to be no other than yourself. Loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know, I will respect your integrity and have faith in your abiding love for me, through all our years, and in all that life may bring us.” And with that, he slipped the ring onto the raven’s finger, pressing a kiss against the finger as well before facing his fiancé again. 

As Levi took the ring from Eren next, he held it against his finger, giving Eren a small, soft smile. “With this ring,” He started, keeping his gaze locked with Eren’s, his voice calm and gentle, “I, Levi Ackerman, take you, Eren Jaeger, to be no other than yourself... Loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know, I will respect your integrity and have faith in your abiding love for me, through all our years, and in all that life may bring us.” With the last word, the ring was placed on Eren’s finger which made the brunet smile bright and happy. 

“By the power vested in me,” The priest said finally, “I now pronounce you Husband and-“ His gaze fell on Levi and he paused for a good moment before adding, “Husband and husband.” He closed the book he was holding, looking between the couple. “You may now kiss the groom.”

Eren didn’t hesitate a single second and immediately cupped Levi’s face to press a long and loving kiss onto his lips. The raven happily returned it, resting a hand against Eren’s chest. Both, Kuchel and Carla, began cheering and clapping their hands, seemingly enjoying this moment with their children. While still making sure they stayed quiet so they wouldn’t draw any attention, the two still took their time to celebrate and cherish this moment. 

These were their only children and they found their happiness in each other’s arms. There was nothing better anyone could’ve wished for than to finally get married and live together. Sure, it would’ve been better if no complications even happened, but it was alright now. As long as Eren and Levi would be together, they would be happy. 

It seemed as if Eren didn’t want to pull away anymore, so Levi lightly patted his chest and pulled back himself, smirking lightly, “They’re watching us, don’t get ahead of yourself.” He joked, caressing Eren’s chest gently. Though, the brunet couldn’t stop smiling and soon was lifting Levi to spin him around happily, hugging his husband closely. “I love you!” The brunet exclaimed, peppering a few kisses on his cheek before gently setting the raven down again, tucking some of his hair behind his ear. 

The prince took Eren’s hand and lightly pressed his cheek into his palm, nuzzling him. “I love you too..” He mumbled softly, closing his eyes to take in this moment before opening them again. Levi then turned over to face his mother and stepped closer to hand her the flowers. 

“Thank you, mom, for everything.” He pulled her into a hug, squeezing her and giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I have no idea what I’d do without you. You made me the person I am today and I’m grateful for that.” He spoke honestly, looking into her eyes. Kuchel just smiled at her son, caressing his face in her hands. “I’m so proud of you,” She mumbled, kissing his forehead tenderly. “Go and live your life, be happy.”

Kuchel reached over to take Eren’s hand, holding his and Levi’s together in her own. “Take care of each other.” 

“We definitely will.” Eren said confidently, grinning from ear to ear. 

Carla placed her hand on top of theirs, a smile on her lips. “We’ll miss you a lot. Be careful.” 

After exchanging the last hugs and kisses, Eren carried his husband in his arms and walked over to the carriage that was prepared for them where he made Levi sit down. He walked to the other side of the carriage and took a seat as well, grabbing the reins. They both turned around to look at their parents one last time who waved their hands goodbye. Levi and Eren returned the waves before Eren whipped the reins and the two horses began walking. 

Slowly but surely, they were getting further away and Levi turned to face forward, leaning his head against Eren’s shoulder calmly. “Do you think they’ll be alright?” Levi was worried for his mother but knew she was a strong woman, she could do it. 

“I’m sure of it.” Eren said happily, “They seem to get along well, I’m sure they’re gonna be alright.” 

Levi nodded at that and closed his eyes, leaning against his husband. “Where do you want to-“ Barely able to finish the sentence, Levi was interrupted by a loud bang which made his eyes widen. The raven turned around immediately and his heart just about stopped at what he just witnessed. 

There was a person further back which he couldn’t quite recognize but what he definitely recognized was his mother falling to the ground where a puddle formed underneath her. The flowers she was holding slipped from her hands, some petals hovering in the air before the bouquet landed right next to her motionless body. Levi was utterly terrified, his breath stuck in his throats. “M...mom..?” He whispered, gripping the carriage tightly. 

“What’s going on?!” Eren snapped, turning around as well to see Kuchel laying on the ground. His eyes widened and quickly moved over to his mother who looked just as terrified as them. 

“Eren! Levi!” She exclaimed immediately, loudly, her hand reaching out as if she attempted to hold them, “Live on! Go far away-!” Another shot fell, right through her head, and Carla dropped to the ground as well, somewhere near Kuchel. The ground was covered in more than only blood, there were guts, flesh, pieces of skull thanks to the shot that went right through Carla’s head. It all intermingled with the dirt on the ground, creating a truly astonishing massacre. The once white flowers soaked with the substances on the ground and turned deep red, ironically turned the scenery more beautiful. 

“Mom!!” Eren shouted at the tops of his lungs, eyes wider than ever. His hands were shaking, rage taking over his whole being as he let out a loud cry. “I’m gonna kill you!!” He gripped the reins tighter and was about to turn over until Levi quickly snatched them from him and whipped them repeatedly, making the horses run faster. A shot barely missed them so Levi kept whipping the reins to get the horses to run even faster. 

“Levi! Stop! We need to help them!” He yelled, grabbing Levi by his shoulder. Though, Levi just looked down, giving a small shake of his head, “...We can’t help them anymore.” He whispered, shaking his head again. “Make the decision you’ll regret the least... if we go back now, everything they’ve done for us was for nothing.” Everything Kuchel and Carla worked on to get to this moment, everything they gave, it was only for Eren and Levi to marry and live, to leave, to be together. 

“Levi, you can’t be serious right now!” Eren snapped unbelievingly, staring at Levi like he was a total maniac. “They’re our parents! And they-“

“And they are dead, Eren.” The raven stated as a fact, his voice calm although he wasn’t calm at all. His heart was pounding so bad and he just managed to stop his body from shaking. Glancing down at his ring, Levi’s gaze saddened, “We need to live on.. for them. We just.. have to, you understand?” He finally looked up to face Eren only to see the brunet in tears. Fat tears dripped down his face while the brunet stared at his husband quietly before reluctantly looking down, a silent way of agreeing to him. 

At that, Levi pulled him closer to hug him with one arm, his other hand still holding onto the reins. The shooting stopped and Levi didn’t dare to look back, knowing that if he did, he wouldn’t be strong enough to keep moving forward. Eren was pressed up against him, clutching him with his face pressed into his shoulder as small sobs could be heard in the silent night. 

Levi was heartbroken, devastated, and he hated himself for not being able to cry, but they needed to stay alive, needed to live on and try to be happy. For their mothers. 

And so they did. 

Or at least tried to.


End file.
